State of the Climate in the South-West Pacific 2023

The report was released by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo at the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga. It was accompanied by a special briefing document on Surging Seas in a Warming World, described by Mr Guterres as “an SOS on sea level rise.”  

Despite accounting for just 0.02 per cent of global emissions – the Pacific islands are uniquely exposed. Their average elevation is just one to two meters above sea level; 90 percent of the population live within 5 kilometres of the coast and half the infrastructure is within 500 metres of the sea.

Early warning systems facilitate proactive measures such as evacuation plans, resource allocation and infrastructure reinforcement. Even though they are a lifeline, they are available in only one third of Small Island Developing States globally.

The State of the Climate in the South-West Pacific 2023 report was prepared in cooperation with National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and other United Nations agencies and international partners. It also looks at climate drivers in 2023 – including the last El Niño event – temperature, precipitation and extreme events like tropical cyclones, drought and extreme heat in the region.