Introduction: The Politics of Climate Change in the Pacific

Abstract

The introductory chapter makes the case that within the grand architecture of global climate governance, analysing regional complexes in the Pacific provides new insights into the ways climate change is constructed, governed, and shaped by—and in turn shapes—regional and global climate politics. Three claims are made. First, the Pacific is not just ‘any region’, rather the Pacific has been constructed as the frontline of climate change. Second, climate change reinforces the notion of regional solidarity in the Pacific institutionalized in regional organizations; however, these organizations have become heavily dependent on external donors in combatting climate change. Third, Pacific states have advocated for important changes to the global architecture of climate finance, yet contestation over key elements of climate finance leaves the region poorly served.