A Pacific climate crisis
SEAS CLIMB HIGH, ISLES SINK LOW, WASH IN PICs
Pacific Island Countries (PICs) have some of the lowest water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) coverage rates globally, while also being among the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Sea level rise has further intensified WASH challenges across the Pacific region.
Using the available data, we examine this relationship and explore how WASH conditions have evolved in PICs.
Rising tides, shrinking shores..
The sea keeps us alive, but now it starts to rise,
then clean water declines,
W.A.S.H can barely supply.
Humans fight,
humans try,
… to survive.
So why?
Pacific sea status
Rising Seas, Starved of Water
Over the years, sea-level anomalies have remained high across the PICs, with an overall upward trend. Low-lying nations face severe environmental and societal pressures from rising sea levels driven by climate change. Rising sea levels erode coastlines, damage infrastructure, cause flooding, and contaminate freshwater reserves and agricultural land. This places additional pressure on WASH systems across Pacific communities.
Despite being surrounded by water, PICs struggle with access to safe drinking water - a crisis that is being intensified by climate change.
Data source: Sea level anomalies (Climate Data Store).
Relative sea level anomalies by country (2005–2024). Hover over a country in the legend or chart for details.
The reasons why
Pollute the Least, Yet Pay the Most
“The ocean is overflowing. The reason is clear: Greenhouse gases, overwhelmingly generated by burning fossil fuels, are cooking our planet. And the sea is taking the heat, literally” - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Pacific communities contribute the least to the causes of climate change, accounting for less than 0.03% of global CO₂ emissions, yet they are at the forefront of its impacts.
We can see that almost all PICs produce around 0.1–3.0 tons of CO₂ per capita annually - except Palau. Although it emitted less than 0.01% of global CO₂ emissions in 2024, Palau had the highest CO₂ emissions per capita in the world despite its small population. The main reason is that Palau relies almost entirely on fossil fuels, including for power generation, transport, and tourism.
Without stronger measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, oceans will become hotter and higher, and PICs will go underwater.
Data source: GHG per capita (Pacific Data Hub), Temperature anomalies (Pacific Data Hub), Sea level anomalies (Climate Data Store).
Every circle is a Pacific Island Country, plotted where it sits. Its size represents the country’s annual GHG emissions per capita. Its color represents the annual mean surface temperature anomaly. Its blue ring represents the annual sea level anomaly.
Impact on Pacific WASH
As the sea rises, WASH stands still
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) is a fundamental part of development, enabling families to live clean and healthy lives. Yet delivering WASH services across PICs remains difficult due to their remote geography, small and largely rural populations, limited resources, and cultural diversity. WASH challenges have been intensified by climate change, especially rising sea levels.
Climate change is generating unsanitary conditions that limit access to safe water and hinder the development of adequate WASH infrastructure. Rising sea levels are driving more frequent and severe flooding, which in turn raises the risk of waterborne pathogens leaking from sewage systems and spreading disease. Poor WASH practices further contribute to pollution, damaging the ecosystems and biodiversity of Pacific islands.
There is not enough data to provide a complete picture, but the available data suggests that the three WASH indicators - safely managed drinking water, open defecation, and basic handwashing facilities - have improved only marginally in some countries, while others show stagnation or even decline.
Data source: Clean Water and Sanitation (Pacific Data Hub).
Distribution of clean water and sanitation indicators for a selected country, with dots representing yearly values from 2016 to 2024, stacked vertically. Color indicates the overall trend (Green: Improved, Red: Declined, Black: Unchanged).
Averages hide the gaps: How WASH access differs across PICs
In particular, based on the data available, in 2024, about 44% of Pacific Islanders had access to safely managed drinking water (WATER), 7.8% practiced open defecation (SANITATION), and 76.4% had access to a handwashing facility with soap and water (HYGIENE).
One figure worth noting is that more than 45% of the population in the Solomon Islands practices open defecation, meaning that they defecate in the open - in fields, forests, bushes, open bodies of water, on beaches, in other open spaces or dispose of it with solid waste. Clearly, this shows that nearly half of Solomon Islanders lack access to basic sanitation services.
Meanwhile, among the countries with data for all three WASH indicators, Fiji and Samoa perform well above the Pacific average.
Safely Managed Drinking Water
Open Defecation
Handwashing Facilities
Drag to rotate • Scroll to zoom
Data source: Clean Water and Sanitation (Pacific Data Hub).
Closer to the top-front-right corner is better (High safely managed drinking water - Low open defecation - High handwashing facilities).
Who is most affected by poor WASH? Rural or Urban?
Each dot is one country. Rural (X-axis) versus Urban (Y-axis) rates (% of population) for Safely managed drinking water in 2024.
All 7 countries fall ABOVE the diagonal - meaning in every country without exception, urban rates are better than rural.
Palau: 97.7% of urban population compared to 57.3% in rural areas - a 40.4-point gap, the widest in the region.
Tuvalu: just a 5.0-point gap between urban (10.4%) and rural (5.4%).
Rural (X-axis) versus Urban (Y-axis) rates (% of population) for Open defecation in 2024.
While 6/10 countries fall BELOW the diagonal, meaning rural rates are typically higher than urban rates - worse conditions in rural areas with big gaps, Samoa and Tonga fall ABOVE it with small gaps. Palau and Fiji are ON the diagonal.
Solomon Islands: 7.7% of urban population compared to 58.9% in rural areas - a 51.2-point gap, the widest in the region.
Palau and Fiji: just a 0.0-point gap between urban (0.0%) and rural (0.0%).
Rural (X-axis) versus Urban (Y-axis) rates (% of population) for Basic handwashing facilities in 2024.
5/6 countries fall ABOVE the diagonal - meaning urban rates are typically better than rural rates.
Vanuatu: 65.9% of urban population compared to 42.2% in rural areas - a 23.7-point gap, the widest in the region.
Tuvalu: just a 3.6-point gap between urban (92.7%) and rural (96.3%).
Data source: Clean Water and Sanitation (Pacific Data Hub).