Climate change poses profound and escalating challenges for Fiji, affecting livelihoods, infrastructure, and social systems, including education. This paper examines the role of education as a critical driver of climate resilience by analysing how climate literacy, indigenous knowledge systems, and 21st-century competencies can be integrated to strengthen Fiji’s capacity to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. Drawing on regional policy frameworks, global climate education literature, and Pacific epistemologies, the paper argues that Fiji’s education system is uniquely positioned to generate long-term resilience through transformative teaching, culturally grounded knowledge, and future-focused skills development. It highlights how climate change directly disrupts learning, through displacement, extreme weather events, infrastructure vulnerabilities, and socio-economic pressures, while also demonstrating that well-designed education can empower communities with adaptive knowledge, problem-solving abilities, and intergenerational resilience. The analysis reveals that meaningful reform requires a synthesis of scientific climate literacy with indigenous ecological wisdom, supported by teacher capacity-building, curriculum reform, and community engagement. The paper concludes that repositioning education as a strategic climate adaptation tool is essential for Fiji’s sustainable development, national security, and the wellbeing of present and future generations.

Fiji, climate resilience, climate literacy, indigenous knowledge, 21st-century competencies, education reform, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), climate adaptation, Pacific education, sustainability

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