Pacific Resilience Fund needs to raise $380 million in two years to reach $500 million goal

The authors note that the gap between the region’s aspirations and reality is widening, particularly with setbacks on climate change goals.
photo: UNDP Pacific Region

Tonga has the support of Pacific Economy Ministers to host the Regional Community Resilience Financing Facility.

The Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) was approved by Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders to make climate finance more accessible to Pacific Island countries for climate adaptation, disaster preparedness and early disaster response projects.

“The Pacific Islands Forum Resilience Fund is ours,” Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Baron Waqa told media following the 2024 Forum Economic Ministers’ Meeting in Suva.

“When I say we, (I mean) the most vulnerable people in the world, living in the Pacific, struggling with the issues of climate change, this PRF will provide funding that we can easily access,” he said.

At the Fourth Pacific Climate Change Conference in May, Tonga’s Prime Minister, Huakavameliku Shosi-Sovalenei, the incoming chair of the Pacific Islands Forum, said “we must urgently secure unprecedented levels of financial investment to move the conference forward”.

The fund will be the first regional financial institution in the Pacific to be owned and led by Pacific countries.

Zarak Khan, director of projects and initiatives at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, said total commitments to the fund stood at $116 million, well short of the $500 million target for 2026.

“We are currently working with the office of the UN Secretary-General, who has agreed to convene a global pledging event for the PRF in New York in the near future to ensure that we can secure more pledges and mobilize more funds,” Khan said.

He said a joint effort was underway to try to get partners on board by “persuading Japan and the United States in a very tough way.”

The forum is also looking at European countries including France, Germany and even the UK, which have joined in contributing to the establishment of the PRF.

“We hope they will make larger commitments in the future to avail the PRF,” Khan said.

“There are many other partners in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia has already joined us. We are also considering Qatar and the UAE.”

Pacific leaders are expected to approve Tonga as host of the Pacific Islands Forum at the annual Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting in Tonga later this month.