The seas are rising on Pacific islands nations – but so is their powerful resistance

Leaders pose during the family photo at the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva, Fiji on Thursday. ‘The unifying, clarifying priority for all Pacific leaders is survival,’ writes Ellen Fanning. Photograph: Samuel Rillstone/AP

Let’s face it, Australia has been an awfully bad neighbour in the Pacific for some while now.

Not a shouting-at-the-people-next-door, finger-pointing, vengeful kind of neighbour. Rather the sort that blithely parties all night, heedless of the family next door knocking insistently on the door at all hours, trying to make themselves heard over the loud music and laughter inside.