September 28, 2026
Island Nations – More than 6,000 participants joined the eighth Virtual Island Summit, where island leaders and climate specialists called for financing and partnerships to support communities already developing responses to climate change, ocean pressures, and economic challenges.
According to a press release from organizer Island Innovation, the online summit ran from September 15 to 17, bringing together participants from the Pacific, Caribbean, Europe, Indian Ocean, Arctic, and other regions ahead of COP31, the United Nations climate summit.
Twelve sessions addressed coastal erosion, ocean governance, food and energy security, tourism, and climate finance. Discussions focused on adapting to change, transforming systems, and mobilizing action.
Climate adaptation funding featured prominently. Green Climate Fund Executive Director Mafalda Duarte said small island states receive just 0.2 percent of global international adaptation finance, although storms, floods, or drought have affected more than 34 million islanders over the past decade.
“Islands are often described as being on the front line of climate change, and that is absolutely true, but they are also home to some of the world’s deepest experience in adapting to change,” Duarte said.
She said nearly a quarter of the Green Climate Fund’s projects are in small island developing states. As an example of what targeted financing can achieve, she cited a $36 million commitment to Tuvalu made a decade ago that helped secure another $67.9 million from Australia, New Zealand, and the Asian Development Bank for resilience efforts.
Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Penitala Teo opened the summit and announced that his country would host a pre-COP leaders’ side event on October 6. The event will feature the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project, which he said has reclaimed approximately 15.3 hectares of land on Funafuti.
Teo also called for adaptation efforts to draw on traditional knowledge and support the people who preserve and share it.
“We must therefore invest in the people who carry that knowledge, connect generations and communities, and ensure that adaptation protects more than physical infrastructure,” he said.
A session on ocean and climate finance examined how to secure greater attention and funding for ocean priorities at COP31. Rachel Kyte, the United Kingdom’s Special Representative for Climate, called for all creditors to adopt mandatory clauses that pause debt payments following extreme weather events.
Salome Tukuafu of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme said the Pacific has accessed less than one percent of available climate finance. The session also cited an estimated global need of $149 billion annually to address ocean priorities, according to the release.
Beyond financing, participants discussed efforts to rebuild local food systems and reduce dependence on imports. Examples came from communities ranging from the Pacific to Scotland’s Outer Hebrides.
Discussions also addressed the role of indigenous languages in education, cultural continuity, and community resilience. Ocean governance sessions examined how technology, policy, community participation, and institutional capacity can work together to protect marine resources.
Speakers included Guam Governor Lourdes Leon Guerrero and Australian Assistant Minister for Pacific Islands Affairs Senator Nita Green, alongside leaders and specialists from other island jurisdictions and international organizations.
The summit also introduced “Island Blue Economies: Building Ocean Livelihoods That Last,” a professional development program scheduled to begin October 13. Island Innovation said the program will provide practical skills and knowledge for people working to develop sustainable ocean economies.
Island Innovation CEO James Ellsmoor said the summit demonstrated the range of expertise within island communities.
“What they need is finance and partnerships that reach them, and with pre-COP and COP31 weeks away, that is the gap the world needs to close,” he said.
The Virtual Island Summit began in 2019. Island Innovation said the annual free event connects participants from more than 500 islands and territories.
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