Source: SPREP
Broadcasting Pacific voices telling their climate change stories across 30 TV channels across our region is what a team of five Pacific Islands media will be doing across the next two weeks.
Pasifika TV, working in partnership with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), is covering Pacific Climate Change Week, consisting of a range of climate change events coordinated by Pacific organisations in Fiji, from September 28 to October 2, 2026.
They will also be covering the Pre-COP31 from October 5-8, in Fiji and Tuvalu for which Fiji, Tuvalu and Australia are partnering to deliver the official COP31 ministerial meeting and Leaders’ event.
Tagaloa Cooper, Director of Climate Change Resilience says SPREP is pleased to see this Pacific team of media experts now in action after weeks of training, interviews and preparation.
“As Pacific Islands people living with the impacts of climate change, its crucial that our stories are being told across the region, so we grow our understanding and be empowered with the leadership many are taking as we adapt, and find solutions, to this issue that threatens our survival,” Tagaloa says.
Led by Tia Soakai, Pasifika TV Regional Content Manager, the team consists of Riya Bhagwan from Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, Alex Dadamu from Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation, Wari Ila from National Broadcasting Corporation of Papua New Guinea and EMTV’s Varia Omoa, also of PNG.
The team has two reporters and two camera-editors, who each aim to develop at least six pieces of content daily to be streamed across the Pasifika TV platform of 30 network stations.
This will include live feeds, news content and a daily wrap of events from the day.
“This is a special moment for each of us personally – we’ve never been to a Pre-COP and so we’re privileged to be part of this and to be able to tell our Pacific stories as Pacific media from our experience as having lived through these impacts also,” Tia says.
“This partnership with SPREP is empowering our Pacific media to step into an area that has global attention and be able to amplify our Pacific voices and people in our own way.”
Preparation for this began earlier in the year when SPREP and Pasifika TV held online training open to all media.
While learning about climate change including the negotiations, the training also consisted of a range of assignments for completion.
This is the second partnership initiative undertaken by SPREP and Pasifika TV – the first was in 2023 when a Pasifika TV team created news content from the UNFCCC 28th Conference of the Parties (COP) in Dubai.
It is hoped this will also be held for the coming events in Fiji and Tuvalu, as well as during the COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye from November 9-20.
Tia adds content being created is through media sharing platforms where newsrooms can access footage that is needed.
“We understand just how important these events are for our Pacific people, that these discussions result in actions to be taken at the national and regional level,” she says.
“We know climate change is a serious issue for us all and we’re proud to be able to tell the stories of our people across our region.”
Visit Pasifika TV, the website and social media platforms for more information.