'Thin' Pacific island teams at COP26 spark fears of inequity

NEW DELHI (AP) — Only four Pacific islands will be represented by their leaders at upcoming U.N. climate talks in Glasgow because of COVID-19 travel restrictions, with most island nations forced to send smaller teams.

The development has sparked fears that the voices of these countries — whose very existence is threatened by climate change despite contributing only a fraction of the world's emissions — may not be heard at the U.N. Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, which begins on Sunday.

Small island nations were crucial in ensuring that the 1.5-degree Celsius (2.7-degree Fahrenheit) warming threshold was adopted in the 2015 Paris climate accord. Scientists now say that the world has already warmed nearly 1.1 C (2 F), and a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change earlier this year warned that the world would likely exceed the 1.5-degree threshold earlier than anticipated.

The talks in Glasgow may be the “final opportunity” for the world to try to limit warming to the 1.5-degree threshold, said Frank Bainimarama, the prime minister of Fiji. Warming oceans are already bleaching coral reefs and climate disasters are becoming more frequent and severe, he added.

"Our sovereignty and very survival are at stake,” he said.

Only Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu and Palau will be represented by their heads of state at COP26.

Other small island nations will be represented by ministers, officials from capitals or ambassadors in Europe or the U.S., said Fatumanva Luteru, the chair of the Pacific Small Island Developing States, a group of countries that operate as a bloc during climate negotiations, and Samoa’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Those living in the Pacific islands face unique challenges just in traveling to Glasgow. Few commercial...