Overview:
Pacific editors and newsroom leaders have pledged to strengthen reporting on climate-related loss and damage, with a new declaration calling for greater focus on the economic, cultural and social impacts already affecting communities across the region. The commitment was made at the two-day Editors’ Forum on Loss and Damage in Savusavu, Fiji.
By Elilai Rengiil
Savusavu, Fiji – Newsroom leaders and editors from across the Pacific have adopted the Savusavu Loss and Damage Media Forum Declaration, calling for stronger, more accurate reporting on the climate impacts already affecting vulnerable communities across the region.
The two-day Editors’ Forum on Loss and Damage, held on Nawi Island near Savusavu, Fiji, from September 21-22, brought together regional media leaders to examine how newsrooms can better report on climate-related loss and damage, including harms that cannot be measured only in financial terms.
The forum was facilitated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, or SPREP, and New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Discussions focused on climate reporting, economic and non-economic loss and damage, and ways to give greater priority to stories from communities facing the most severe effects of climate change.
For Pacific communities, climate-related loss and damage extends beyond damaged roads, homes and public infrastructure. Rising seas, saltwater intrusion, displacement, stronger cyclones and typhoons, and changing ocean conditions can also threaten food security, livelihoods, health, culture and community ties.
Participants said some of the deepest and least visible impacts are non-economic: the loss of cultural heritage and identity, disruption to customary practices, and damage to traditional knowledge passed down through generations.
Editors discussed the media’s role in reporting such stories accurately and respectfully, particularly by centering the experiences and voices of affected communities.
They also highlighted the need for journalists to explain complex climate science and international policy in language that is clear and relevant to Pacific audiences.
The forum also considered the United Nations Environment Programme report Limiting Overshoot and the potential implications of climate “tipping points” for the Pacific.
Participants said training on the language of tipping points would help editors and reporters translate technical climate assessments into visible, everyday consequences for communities.
Possible impacts discussed included widespread coral reef decline as oceans warm and become more acidic, as well as shifts in fish stocks as marine temperatures rise. Both trends could affect fisheries, food supplies and household incomes across the Pacific.
The forum also examined the lead-up to Pre-COP discussions in Fiji and the leaders’ component planned in Tuvalu, alongside the Pacific’s long campaign to place loss and damage at the centre of global climate negotiations.
Pacific states, led by Vanuatu, have pressed for international recognition of climate-related loss and damage for decades. The issue has become increasingly prominent in United Nations climate negotiations as vulnerable countries seek support for impacts that can no longer be avoided through emissions reductions or adaptation alone.
The Savusavu declaration signals a commitment by participating editors and newsroom leaders to give greater attention to these impacts, especially the experiences of Pacific communities living with the cultural, social and economic consequences of climate change.