FIJI, Oct. 8 -- Green Climate Fund Executive Director Mafalda Duarte has warned that climate finance must be delivered faster and at greater scale, saying Pacific communities cannot afford to wait years for resilience projects while facing existential climate threats.

Duarte told Pacific leaders at the Pacific Pre-COP31 plenary in Denarau that her visit to Tuvalu had demonstrated the reality of climate vulnerability in a way scientific reports could not.

"There is a very big difference between reading scientific reports, hearing stakeholders talk about climate change and actually experiencing firsthand being in the islands.

"I have been in many countries and places around the world that have been impacted by climate change, but I have ...