Pacific will host fresh climate push

WELLINGTON:

World powers are flying delegates comprising ministers and climate negotiators, to the Pacific to haggle over the fight against global warming, and to see the plight of island nations surrounded by a rising ocean.

The delegates will meet in the Fijian city of Nadi for the October 5-8 talks to chart the course for a major UN-sponsored global climate summit, known as COP31, to be held in November in Turkey's Antalya province.

For Pacific nations, hosting the preliminary talks in their region offers an opportunity to draw the world's atten-tion to life on the frontline of climate change. Pacific leaders are pushing for the world to stick to a target of lim-iting global warming to 1.5C, enhance access to climate finance, and give more attention to the impact on oceans.

The sea level is rising

at a record pace, driven

by warming oceans

and glacier melt.