Asia Rising

Event: Pacific Climate Mobility: Pathways to new Partnerships

Asia Rising

Show Notes

For Pacific Island communities, climate change is not a future threat, but a present reality. Intensifying El Niño events, displacement, and compounding security challenges are reshaping the region, even as global attention has been diverted by energy crises and fossil fuel disruption.

Climate mobility - the movement of people in response to climate impacts - is emerging as both a critical challenge and an opportunity to reframe how external partners engage with the Pacific. What does a genuine model of climate, peace, and security partnership that centres mobility look like? And how can outside partners align their support with Pacific-led priorities rather than imposing solutions?

This Melbourne Climate Talk is hosted by the German Embassy in Canberra in partnership with the La Trobe Centre for Global Security. It brings together Pacific and regional experts to explore mobility as a pathway to stronger, more equitable climate partnerships, and to build momentum ahead of UNFCCC Pre-COP discussions in Fiji and Tuvalu.

Speakers:

Ms Beate Grzeski (Ambassador of Germany to Australia)

Dr Aiden Craney (Research Fellow, Centre for Human Security and Social Change, La Trobe University)

Dr Jason Titifanue (Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Melbourne)

Dr Lauren Nishimura (Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne)

Ms Bateteba Aselu (PhD candidate, School of Geography, University of Melbourne)

Dr Sara Gosper, (Manager, International Partnerships and Engagement, RMIT)(Chair)

Professor Nick Bisley (Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), La Trobe University)

Recorded on 26th August, 2026

More from Asia Rising

Oct 13, 2026

China’s new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress is presented by Beijing as a policy of development and equality. For Tibetans, it represents something very different.

Oct 6, 2026

The waters of the South China Sea - including areas the Philippines refers to as the West Philippine Sea - are at the centre of some of the Indo-Pacific’s most important maritime disputes. These waters bring together competing territorial and maritime claims, strategic interests, and the rights and interests of coastal states. They are also vital to fishing communities and populations whose livelihoods and security depend on access to the sea.

Sep 24, 2026

Few diplomatic careers span Moscow during the invasion of Ukraine, the remote islands of the Pacific, and Canberra. Germany's Ambassador to Australia, Beate Grzeski, has lived all three - and the thread connecting them says something about how the world is changing.

Sep 17, 2026

Few events in recent history have generated as much confusion, controversy, and misinformation as the COVID-19 pandemic. Five years on, the origins of COVID remain contested, and the lessons of how that debate played out carry hard implications for global health security for years to come.

Sep 11, 2026

The Indian Ocean Region (IOR) is fast becoming one of the world's most contested global commons. Home to critical sea lanes, energy and trade corridors, and a growing contest for influence among major and middle powers, traditional security challenges are growing and competing.

See all episodes →