25 February 2026, Port Vila - The injustice Pacific countries like Vanuatu continue to face, as a result of a changing climate they are not responsible for, and cannot cope with, is the driving force behind their local and global climate action.
The steps to address climate change-induced loss and damage through the Building Our Pacific Loss and Damage (BOLD) Response Project Inception and implementation planning meeting taking place this week in Port Vila, is part of this climate action to ensure a sustainable future for its communities.
“As we often say, we are not the cause of this crisis, yet we are amongst those who suffer the most from it. This injustice is the foundation upon which our climate actions including this project, are rooted.”
The Acting Director of Vanuatu’s Department of Climate Change, Mr Nelson Kalo, highlighted the point, speaking during the opening of the three-day meeting at the Ramada Hotel. He said the latest steps by the BOLD Project in Vanuatu is the beginning of an important journey to turn Vanuatu’s ambitions into action.
“Our vulnerable region has faced several recent natural disasters including intensifying tropical cyclones, prolonged droughts, earthquakes, extreme rainfall and rising sea levels, compounding the existing vulnerabilities of being small island developing states with limited resources and remote geographies,” Mr Kalo said.
“Our economic, social and environmental sectors are impacted extensively, threatening our survival and way of life, despite having very minimal contributions to the overall global greenhouse gas emissions.”
This week in Port Vila, key Vanuatu stakeholders are gathering for the BOLD Response Project Inception and implementation planning to set the priorities to guide the implementation of activities in the coming years.
The meeting is hosted by the Vanuatu Department of Climate Change, with the support of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and Climate Analytics.
“For years, Vanuatu has been at the forefront of promoting and advocating for loss and damage at the world stage, to ensure the voices of our people who are living the reality of climate impacts every day, are not only heard but given justice,” Mr Kalo said.
“Our population and indigenous culture across more than 80 islands, depend on livelihoods that are intrinsically tied to our environment and a stable climate. A climate as we all know, is changing rapidly at a rate we cannot cope with.”
Mr Kalo also highlighted Vanuatu’s global leadership in promoting and advocating for loss and damage at the world stage, to ensure the voices of ni-Vanuatu who are living the reality of climate impacts every day, are not only heard but given justice.
“Our government spearheaded the historic UN General Assembly resolution that led to the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion delivered in 2025 which concluded that countries have binding legal duties to protect the climate system, prevent transboundary harm, and provide reparation for climate-induced damage.
“This victory at the international stage allows more climate finance access to address economic as well as non-economic loss and damage, significant to our small island developing states who are already facing community relocation, loss of language and culture, loss of land, and essentially our basic human rights.
“In the same year, our Ministry launched one of the world’s first standalone national Loss and Damage Policy. The policy highlights our priorities on loss and damage, governed by a dedicated Loss and Damage Working Group under our National Advisory Board for Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction.”
So where does the BOLD Response Project contribute to Vanuatu’s ongoing local and global climate action?
“This project will support our national efforts by translating our national policy, into community level and locally led actions,” added Mr Kalo.
The BOLD Response Project is a five-year project running from 2025 to December 2029 and is funded by the Federal Republic of Germany through its Federal Foreign Office, under the International Climate Initiative (IKI).
BOLD is implemented by a consortium led by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and Climate Analytics, across five Pacific Island countries Fiji, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
For more information on the BOLD Project, please contact SPREP Climate Change Adaptation Adviser, Filomena Nelson [email protected] , BOLD Project Manager, Malaki Iakopo [email protected] or Climate Analytics – Patrick Pringle [email protected]