Fiji, Aug. 12 -- The Pacific Islands region should move beyond the traditional focus on climate change as a driver of conflict and instead build a climate-peace approach centred on social cohesion, cultural continuity, relational security and ecological stewardship, a new policy brief says.

The policy brief, "A Pacific Climate-Peace Nexus," written by Dr Timothy Bryar of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat's Climate Mobility team and Jamie Tarawa of UNDP, argues that Pacific experiences offer a different way of understanding the links between climate change and peace.

It says climate change does not automatically lead to conflict and that international approaches focused mainly on a "climate-conflict nexus" do not fully reflect Pacifi...