ABSTRACT
What is known about climate change in the Pacific Islands shapes what is done to address the problem. As we have shown in this book, the empirical basis for what is known about climate change in the region is limited and piecemeal. It is produced by people from outside the region, shaped by what the institutions that fund research think is important, transfers some of the blame for vulnerability to people living in islands, and tends to ignore the risks to, and capacities of, people in the region. The gaps in this limited information are filled by speculation and hyperbole, which mischaracterizes risks, fails to recognize the agency of people in the region, ignores the significant scope for adaptation to defer or avoid climate impacts, and denies the possibility of a future for the region that is better than the present.
