Pasifika Futures Forum Opens In Suva: Navigating A Bold Vision For The Blue Pacific

13 May 2025

Suva, Fiji: The inaugural Pasifika Futures Forum officially opened today at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in Suva, bringing together over 150 Pacific Island leaders, policymakers, traditional knowledge holders, youth, disability advocates, and development partners from across the Pacific region.

Hosted by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pacific Office in Fiji – with the generous support of the Government of Australia – the Forum will explore and shape long-term pathways for a resilient, sustainable, and inclusive Blue Pacific Continent.

The Forum follows the launch of the Pasifika Futures Report, a Pacific-led foresight publication that builds on the foundations laid by the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent and the groundbreaking work undertaken by the Pacific Community (SPC). Drawing from Pacific epistemologies and contemporary foresight tools, the report highlights 10 emerging themes – from ocean governance and climate security to technological change and intergenerational decision-making.

Baron Waqa, Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum, opened the event and said:

“Our Blue Pacific Continent is the ocean that connects us through our shared culture, diversity, common challenges, and unique vulnerabilities. We must be vigilant of the emerging trends and signals, as our role is to build a region that thrives in unity and resilience.”

Munkhtuya Altangerel, UNDP Resident Representative for the Pacific Office in Fiji, in her opening remarks, said that the forum comes on the back of decades of work across the Pacific community:

“We stand today on the shoulders of remarkable regional leadership: the foresight of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, the pioneering tools of the Pacific Community, and the shared vision laid out in the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent. The future therefore is not something we wait for; it is something we build together.”

Over the next two days, the Forum will host a series of talanoa centred on identity, agency, and adaptive leadership in the face of accelerating global change. Guided by the Pacific concept of wayfinding, the Forum will invite participants to explore how Pacific knowledge systems – grounded in interdependence and connection to place – can guide development thinking and practice in new directions.

The broader Pasifika Futures Initiative aims to strengthen inquiry into how strategic foresight and Pacific wisdom can work together to build more equitable, resilient development partnerships.

The Pasifika Futures Forum will be staged on 13 May at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, and conclude on 14 May at the Grand Pacific Hotel.

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