Fiji, May 5 -- Pacific Island countries have called on the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to significantly scale up climate financing, warning that climate change remains the single greatest threat to the region's survival despite compounding global crises.

In a statement delivered at the ADB Annual Meeting, Pacific Developing Member countries leaders stressed that rising sea levels, coastal erosion and saltwater intrusion are already undermining food security, water supplies, public health and the very habitability of island nations.

"We cannot afford to divert our focus from this ongoing devastation," the statement said.

While acknowledging ADB's leadership in mobilising climate finance, Tuvalu;s finance minister, Panapsi Nelesone urge...