Capturing the value of extraordinary Pacific forests, reefs and waters
29 September 2026
Our Pacific Action for Climate Transitions (PACT) research centre will co-host a high-level pre-COP event, Investing in Natural Capital: The Pacific Opportunity, in Fiji on 5 October, to explore how the Pacific can access climate finance to better respond to the challenges of climate change.
Ahead of the 2026 UN Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Türkiye, the event will be among a series of pre-COP meetings attended by regional and world leaders in Fiji.
Despite being home to some of the world’s most valuable natural assets, Pacific countries continue to receive only a small proportion of global climate finance.
Next week’s Investing in Natural Capital pre-COP meeting will be jointly hosted by PACT and Fiji National University (FNU).
PACT Program Manager
Martin Timperley.
Speaking on the FNU Pulse podcast, PACT Program Manager Martin Timperley said PACT was collaborating with Pacific institutes to boost access to climate finance by recognising the value of natural assets including forests, mangroves, reefs and oceans, enabling the communities that protected these ecosystems to rightly benefit from global investment.
“Natural capital is the term that is collectively used for all of that value that’s inherent within natural environments,” Mr Timperley said. “We’re trying to account for and value all of the benefits inherent within nature that natural environments provide to people… so we can attract (funding), bring it to the places and the communities that need it, and compensate the people who are already doing that work,” he said.
“We all know that mangroves feed a village, they protect the coast and they protect communities from cyclones and the impacts of climate change, and they also store a huge amount of carbon within their roots, within their biomass, and that carbon storage is something the whole planet benefits from.”
The value of natural environments wasn’t “listed on a balance sheet”, Mr Timperley said.
“And the villagers who have looked after those mangrove forests for generations, aren’t being compensated for all of the work they’re doing in stewarding and managing the forest that everybody benefits from, not just the Pacific but all over the world.”
This pre-COP meeting comes at a critical time, as Pacific nations continue to experience some of the world's most severe impacts of climate change despite contributing only a small fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions.
It will provide a platform for Pacific perspectives to help shape regional priorities ahead of COP31 and strengthen dialogue on climate finance, natural capital investment and Pacific-led solutions.
Professor Paul Dargusch, Director of PACT, said the Pacific had an extraordinary opportunity to reshape the climate finance conversation.
“The Pacific is the custodian of natural assets of enormous local and global value,” Professor Dargusch said.
“The challenge now is to develop the investment models, institutions and project pipelines that can translate that natural capital into finance at a scale that supports restoration, strengthens livelihoods and delivers lasting benefits to Pacific communities.
“Through this gathering, we want to bring governments, communities, researchers, climate funds and investors together around a practical question: what needs to change to unlock large-scale investment in the Pacific’s natural capital, while ensuring that Pacific countries and communities remain at the centre of how that investment is designed and delivered.”
Experts will discuss how the Pacific’s ocean territories, tropical forests, coral reefs, mangroves and freshwater systems support communities, food security, livelihoods and economic activity, while also providing important protection against the impacts of climate change.
PACT is supporting a number of health and climate initiatives, including REFLECT Fiji, a major climate-health trial testing whether reflective ‘cool roofs’ can provide a simple, affordable response to rising temperatures.
The PACT centre is a joint collaboration between Monash University and Fiji National University.
Monash academics, students and staff will participate in Pre-COP and COP31, contributing expertise and perspectives from across the University.
Visit monash.edu/monash-at-cop to meet our delegation and learn more about Monash’s contribution to COP31 and climate action across the Indo-Pacific.