Overview:
The Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion has become more than a venue for side events at the annual United Nations climate talks. For Pacific delegates, it is a place to rest, reconnect and share their communities’ climate experiences with the world. At COP31 in Türkiye, Palau negotiator Joe Aitaro and regional representatives explain how the pavilion has strengthened the Pacific’s voice and created a home away from home.
By Elilai Rengiil
ANTALYA, Türkiye – For Palau climate negotiator Joe Aitaro, the difference between attending climate talks with and without a Pacific pavilion is “night and day.”
Before the region had its own space, he said, delegates lacked a place to sit together, meet, and recover from the demands of negotiations.
“Sometimes you just need a breather, and talk to your fellow Pacific Islanders and forget about the madness outside,” Aitaro said. “It gives you the power to go back out there and work for the Pacific.”
At COP31, visitors have described the Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion as “a space to breathe” and a “home away from home.” It is also a place to share Pacific experiences, introduce others to the region and bring island concerns to a wider audience.
What began as an initiative following Fiji’s COP23 presidency has grown into a shared regional space with a program approaching 100 side events. Managed by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), funded by Australia and New Zealand, the pavilion provides both a base for delegates and a platform for Pacific climate stories.
From Koronivia to Moana
The need for an ongoing Pacific pavilion emerged during Fiji’s presidency of the COP23 negotiations in Bonn, Germany, in 2017.
Before then, Pacific activities outside the negotiating rooms included booths, side events and media teams coordinated by SPREP, said Nanette Woonton, the agency’s Communications and Outreach Adviser.
Fiji had a pavilion during its COP23 presidency. Afterwards, New Zealand wanted to continue supporting one and needed an organization to manage it.
“We proposed and were selected to manage the pavilion on behalf of the Pacific ever since then,” Woonton said.
The Koronivia Pavilion debuted the following year at COP24 in Katowice, Poland. A partnership between Fiji’s COP23 presidency, the New Zealand Government, and Pacific regional agencies, it brought together delegates from the Pacific and participants from around the world.
Its name came from the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture, a COP23 decision that formally integrated agriculture and food security into international climate discussions.
At COP25, it became the Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion. The name reflected a shared Pacific identity and a focus on raising awareness of sea-level rise, ocean warming, and resilience while strengthening the region’s voice.
More stories, a wider audience
For Woonton, the pavilion filled a gap in how the Pacific could present its experiences at COP.
“We have so many climate change stories to tell,” she said. “We didn’t really have a place to tell them, but now we do.”
The program has expanded from about 60 or 70 side events in earlier years to close to 100, she said.
Fijian environmental journalist Sera Tikotikovatu-Sefeti, who has covered four COP meetings, has also watched the pavilion grow and attract participants from more countries.
That interest matters for a region whose delegations can be small compared with those from elsewhere, she said. The pavilion gives Pacific people a place to explain the realities facing their communities to visitors who have come to listen.
Those conversations can lead beyond the conference. Sefeti said development partners and investors visit the pavilion, hear community experiences and, in some cases, provide funding.
While the results of formal negotiations can take longer to reach communities, she said, the pavilion offers another way to build connections.
It also helps Pacific participants feel less disconnected from home during demanding negotiations.
“The Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion is home for us, the Pacific,” Sefeti said.
Making the space work
Behind the events and conversations is the work of running a temporary venue in a different country.
Some of SPREP’s responsibilities include coordinating the side-event program, providing a dedicated information technology team, and managing the logistics that keep the pavilion running.
Preparation is essential, Woonton said, but the team must also adjust when arrangements do not unfold as expected.
“You have to be able to pivot and adjust,” she said. “You just go with the flow, get the same outcome. And this team is really solution-based and really good at it.”
That work makes a difference, giving Pacific negotiators and delegates a place to rest and reconnect with fellow Pacific Islanders before returning to negotiations, refreshed and ready to advocate for the region.