An official tree planting ceremony at the St George Building recognised Tonga's commitment to hosting the Pacific Resilience Facility, during a visit of a technical mission from the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Secretariat
The PRF is the first Pacific-led, member-owned regional resilience financing facility, to proactively tackle the climate emergency, The Facility headquarters will be based in Tonga.
The Prime Minister, Hon. ‘Aisake Eke, said on Friday that the ceremony marked the beginning of the transitional preparations as members of PIF work to establish the Pacific Resilience Facility.
The General Manager of the Pacific Resilience Facility, Ms Finau Soqo, headed the PIF technical mission to assess and assure the member's readiness to sign the treaty that is set for 2026.
With Tonga as host for the facility they are now shaping the PRF’s governance, programming, and operational frameworks as it transitions from treaty signing to full implementation.
The PRF Treaty will be presented to Forum leaders at their meeting in September in the Solomon Islands for signature, and thereafter, to deposit their instruments of ratification.
A total of US$159 million has been pledged t the PRF from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, France, Nauru, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Prime Minister Eke thanked the membership for the trust and support for the Kingdom of Tonga to host the facility in Nuku’alofa.
“The Pacific does not have the luxury of time as climate change remains an existential threat to the livelihood of its people and communities,” he said.
Tonga’s Preparations Include:
- Finalization of legal and institutional arrangements to support the PRF’s establishment in-country
- Coordinate with Forum officials and technical teams to ensure readiness for Secretariat operations
- Engagement with regional stakeholders and donor partners to support capitalisation and visibility.
- Planning for future PRF Council meetings and programming co-design workshops
The PRF is the first Pacific-led, member-owned regional resilience financing facility, to demonstrate Pacific ownership and proactive action to tackle our climate emergency, innovatively and sustainably. The PRF will help vulnerable Pacific people exposed to climate change and disaster risks, particularly women and girls, children, the elderly and people with disabilities. It's mandate is to build the resilience, preparedness and adaptive capacity of poor communities before disasters strike.
It will allow the Pacific to invest in small grant based but high-impact projects to make communities disaster-ready.
The PRF is an alternative climate and disaster community financing vehicle for investors' regional climate investments into the Pacific and is an endorsed regional collective action as a resourcing mechanism under the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent Implementation Plan.
