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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) this week approved $3.8 million to support the restoration, conservation, and management of coral reefs in four countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The project, financed by the Asia-Pacific Climate Finance Fund (ACliFF) and the Global Environment Facility will develop climate risk financing and insurance solutions to protect coral reef ecosystems in Fiji, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Solomon Islands.

Willis Towers Watson (WTW), a leading global advisory, broking, and solutions company, today announced the launch of a new financial initiative to help vulnerable fishing communities in Fiji and Papua New Guinea (PNG) to be more resilient to the adverse impacts of climate change.

When a clan chief in Fiji dies, fishing stops for up to a year on part of the island nation’s extensive coral reefs to allow fish stocks to rebound. It is in the new chief’s interest that they do, since an abundant catch when fishing resumes is seen as a portent of his future success.

Like many other Pacific Island countries, Fiji is one of the most coveted tourist destinations in the world. At the same time, it is a microcosm of some significant development and environmental challenges. A natural resource-dependent country with limited land area, Fiji experiences intense competing pressures for agriculture, tourism, transport, water, and other needs.

The ocean has shaped my life, from my beginnings in the outer islands of Fiji to my appointment last year as the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy for the ocean. Like millions of others before me who have taken sustenance and succour from Neptune’s world, I know there is so much for which we should give thanks. And yet, over the intervening decades of my life, a quickening cycle of decline has been imposed on the ocean’s health by the ever-accumulating effects of harmful human activities.

Biodiversity is a valuable resource. The world benefits from biodiversity and associated local traditional knowledge, so when these are exploited by parties with large financial resources – for example for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals – source countries need to be compensated. UN Environment and others are working to ensure that benefits from the use of such resources are used to protect environments and the people who rely on them.