Island Nations Secure Landmark U.N. Victory on Rising Seas

United Nations | Sept. 28, 2026 | 4 min read

Ratu Ilisoni Vuidreketi recalls a towering palm tree from his childhood in Fiji—strong, fruit-bearing, and firmly rooted in verdant soil. Today, however, that same tree stands submerged in salt water during high tide in the South Pacific.

As Fiji’s ambassador to Washington, Mr. Vuidreketi leads with the dying tree when describing the threat of rising seas. “When I went back, I said, ‘Where’s the coconut tree?’ And then I saw – it’s in the sea!”

Standing outside a cavernous conference room at United Nations headquarters, where all 193 member states approved the body’s first declaration on sea level rise, Mr. Vuidreketi called the agreement a rare triumph for multilateral diplomacy. The declaration outlines legal and financial protections against rising seas and represented one of the few consensus issues during the annual gathering of nations.

Although rising seas threaten all countries, low-lying island nations are already experiencing devastating impacts. As glaciers and ice sheets melt, some nations face the prospect of being washed away entirely. Their leaders emphasize that they bear the consequences despite large, wealthy, industrialized nations being widely responsible for the climate crisis.

“I come as the representative of the 1 billion people living on the front line of one of the biggest challenges of our time,” said Prime Minister Feleti Teo of Tuvalu, addressing the U.N. Rising Sea Levels special session.

Caitlin Ochs/Reuters

Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Feleti Teo addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 25, 2026.

“Our present reality”

“It is not a future threat, but our present reality,” Mr. Teo said, echoing fellow island nation leaders. Tuvalu, an archipelago in the South Pacific roughly halfway between Australia and Hawaii, is among the nations at highest risk of going underwater this century.

“It is already threatening our food security, damaging infrastructure, and putting increasing strain on our economy … our culture, our heritage, and for some countries, like mine, our continued existence [are threatened].”

Like Tuvalu, the populations of Fiji and other South Pacific island nations live close to the shoreline. “Our towns and cities, our infrastructure, it all runs through the coasts,” Solo Mara, Fiji’s secretary for foreign affairs and external trade, told The Christian Science Monitor, noting that coastal building had long been the country’s economic development model. Its tourist industry, built along lagoons and white sand beaches, remains a main economic driver and source of foreign currency.

Now, tourism and Fiji’s roads, bridges, and homes face mounting threats from flooding, erosion, extreme winds, and increasingly severe storms. Some communities have been forced to move inland or to Fiji’s main island, and Mr. Mara describes forced removals of villages as the most painful adaptation undertaken by the Fijian government.

Initial defenses such as seawalls, mangrove planting, and improved drainage systems are no longer sufficient for the most vulnerable coastal areas, experts say.

Misper Apawu/AP

People lounge on a beach in Praia, Cape Verde, May 7, 2026.

“We will be judged [on] if we can implement it”

“We are a canary in the coal mine,” Mr. Mara said of climate changes impacting island nations in the South Pacific and Asia. “Now you are seeing things like this happening in other parts of the world.”

Small Island Developing States, known as SIDS, have united to highlight their shared vulnerability and advocate for international action and funding for necessary adaptations. A decade ago, SIDS helped persuade larger nations to sign the Paris Agreement, aiming to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by reducing fossil fuel emissions. However, this month the U.N. warned the world appears poised to exceed that threshold, and scientists warn that every temperature rise makes reversing sea level rise more difficult.

The new U.N. declaration, which SIDS campaigned for, affirms that countries can maintain their sovereignty as political entities even if their land vanishes—including control over maritime borders and exclusive rights for fishing, energy, and military purposes. The declaration also states that developed countries have an obligation to help finance coastal protection measures.

Addressing fellow country representatives, Cape Verde’s Finance Minister Olavo Correia said, “Today we are applauded for adopting the resolution; tomorrow we will be judged [on] if we can implement it.”

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