Papua New Guinea will give Tuvalu 5 million kina a year for five years to support land reclamation in the low-lying island nation.

The commitment totals 25 million kina, about 1.59 million Australian dollars or 1.1 million US dollars a year. It was announced at the Pre-COP leaders meeting, where Pacific leaders saw Tuvalu’s climate vulnerability first hand.

Tuvalu is one of the countries most threatened by rising sea levels. Land reclamation builds new ground to protect homes and infrastructure from the ocean.

The announcement came as thousands of delegates gathered for climate talks in the Pacific. Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka told leaders that Pacific risks are human risks and urged the world to heed the region’s warning on climate change.

The pledge is a strong show of Pacific solidarity ahead of the COP31 climate summit. It signals that island nations are backing each other as they push for faster global action on emissions.