As sea levels creep higher in the Pacific, salt leaches into the soil, and reduces the land available to grow food. Ocean warming is damaging coral reefs, reducing fish stocks, and salinity has tainted fresh water supplies.

As a result, Pacific communities are being forced to turn to imported food, which is often high in calories but low in nutrients. And this, along with a myriad of intersecting social, cultural, and economic factors, has led to a rise in the rates of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Ahead of the upcoming UN climate conference COP31, discussions by government ministers, civil society advocates, multilateral agencies, and academics at the pre-COP meeting in Fiji and Tuvalu last month emphasised the importance of health for those on the front line of the climate crisis.

Women in the Pacific are disproportionately responsible for family care, and the burden of food and water insecurity falls most heavily on their shoulders. Women at the pre-COP meeting told us replanting crops after extreme weather is increasing their domestic burden, contributing to exhaustion and mental ill-health.

But these women are not passive bystanders. Again and again in Fiji we heard........

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