For many years, the annual United Nations climate conference, known as the COP, has represented something profoundly important: The hope that the nations of the world might recognise a common threat and act together in the interests of our shared future.

For countries such as Kiribati, Fiji, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands and many others across the Pacific, this has never been merely an environmental issue or a diplomatic exercise.

It is about whether our children and grandchildren will continue to call their islands home. It is about whether freshwater remains safe to drink, whether food can continue to be grown, and whether our nations remain habitable in the years ahead.

There have been moments when the COP process has risen to this challenge. At its best, it has reminded us that climate change respects no borders and that no nation, however powerful, can solve this crisis alone. It has encouraged greater ambition and reinforced the principle that our future is ultimately interconnected.

Yet we must also acknowledge an uncomfortable reality.

The science has been clear for many years. Indeed, some of the earlier projections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have proven to be too optimistic. Earlier assessments suggested that many low-lying Pacific islands might remain habitable through the end of this century. More recent assessments indicate that the timeline may be much shorter. We are plainly not on track to fulfil the commitments made in Paris in 2015, and the aspiration of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees is rapidly slipping beyond our reach.

The evidence is now all around us. Extreme heat, floods, fires, storms........

© The New Daily