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But it's not just the region's natural geography in peril — its political geography could be endangered as well.
Pacific leaders are worried rising seas could wreak havoc with maritime boundaries throughout the region.
What will they do if the markers they've used to trace sweeping boundaries across vast stretches of ocean slowly disappear beneath the waves?
Most Pacific Islands might only be tiny specks of land, but they're the custodians of vast oceans.
The nation of Tuvalu, for example, is made up of a string of tiny atolls which are only 26 square kilometres in total.
The Carteret Islands were the first place in the world to require population relocations due to climate change, with predictions they would be submerged by 2015.
But its ocean territories cover more than 900,000 square kilometres — slightly larger than the state of New South Wales.
The Cook Islands add up to 600 square kilometres of dry land, but it oversees a vast ocean territory of about 2 million square kilometres.
Determining who owns what in this huge aquatic realm hasn't been easy.
Maritime boundaries are normally pegged to isolated shards of land — islands, atolls, reefs and rocks which barely poke above sea level.
But Josh Mitchell from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the nation of Cook Islands says his nation is worried rising seas could soon swamp many of these crucial markers.
"A warming climate means melting polar caps. And the consequence of that is sea level rise," he said.
"You generate these maritime jurisdiction areas from areas of land. If you lose that land does that consequently mean you lose the maritime jurisdiction that is generated from it?
"That's the question we're looking at."
He's not the only one asking.
The economic consequences are very real.
Maritime boundaries determine who has the right to Pacific fisheries worth more than $3 billion — a huge sum for a region with few sources of income.
It is not the first time Pacific nations find themselves at the pointy end of a global problem, and mapping out a solution will take years, not months.
Mr Mitchell is optimistic about the future, but says the region must hammer out a lasting and peaceful solution.
"There's no question that economically and comparatively speaking we have far more to lose than most other countries," he said.
"There's a lot more riding on it for us. That's why we're here. We need to work this out."
Mr Mitchell is one of 63 officials and experts from around the Pacific who have gathered at Sydney University this week to discuss the issue.
It's a modest meeting, but it could mark a seminal moment in the Pacific.
While technical experts and scientists in the region have had detailed discussions about maritime borders and climate change, this is the first time officials have begun the laborious process of sketching out a political solution.
And they're working on a canvas which is largely blank.
The foundation document for the current maritime boundaries — the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea — was written in 1982, when the prospect of rising seas seemed distant.
"The law of the sea didn't really contemplate climate change or sea level in any meaningful way," Mr Mitchell said. "It is largely silent."
Why don't they freeze the current boundaries?
That's certainly one option. The nations could agree to simply fix existing survey points on the map — even if they do disappear under water in the future.
But there are also several contested borders in the Pacific.
Predicting how climate change will affect those negotiations is difficult.
Some Pacific leaders might spot an advantage in the shifting seascape which might help them to press their claims.
Experts say it will be easier for politicians to resist that temptation if the whole region can come up with a set of principles to govern how governments deal with an increasingly fluid map.
The talks at Sydney University have been organised by the Pacific Community, which provides technical and scientific advice to countries across the region.
Its deputy director-general, Dr Audrey Aumua, says she hopes Pacific leaders will prize collaboration over contestation.
"The spirt with which the Pacific has worked to achieve the current goals of maritime boundaries success has been the principle of cooperation," she said.
"I think for the Pacific this is an important principle, and I think they'd maintain that."
This post includes famous literary figures from earlier American history. First of all the author of Leaves of Grass, the populist, Walter Whitman, who, had he lived today, would have considered the use of the term ‘populism’ in recent political contexts as a bad misuse of the term. It does not refer to xenophobia, or ...
Next we have a famous literary circle, with a veritable who’s who of American writers from the 19th century.
Last but not least we have Henry James.
Justify won the 150th running of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, becoming the 13th horse to earn the coveted Triple Crown.
The 3-year-old colt also collected a sizable paycheck for his ownership team: $800,000 of the $1.5 million purse.
Having already brought home $1.24 million from the Kentucky Derby and $900,000 from the Preakness Stakes, Justify earned his team a total of $2.94 million in prize money from the three legs of the Triple Crown.
Justify's 52-year-old jockey, Mike Smith, who became the oldest jockey to ever win the Triple Crown, also benefited from a victory at Belmont: The winning rider gets 10 percent of what the owners collect which means that Smith, who already collected checks for $124,000 and $90,000 from the first two legs of the Triple ...
The second and third place jockeys get 5 percent of their owner's take, meaning the second-place jockey got a check for $14,000, while the third-place jockey got one for $7,500, before fees.
Justify, the first Triple Crown winner since American Pharoah in 2015, will not receive a monetary bonus for the feat. But the pride that comes with joining the exclusive stable of Triple Crown champions is priceless.
Steve reports on technology, business and economics for the New York Times. He was a foreign correspondent for a decade and served brief stints as an editor, before covering technology, starting in the early 1990s. In 2013, he was part of the team awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting “for its penetratin...
VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI has urged diplomats to supply urgent aid to Syria to relieve civilian suffering, while expressing hope that Jerusalem would become "a city of peace and not of division."
Benedict addressed urgent crises around the world in an annual speech to diplomats Monday. Starting with the Middle East, "that privileged region in God's plan," the pope warned that continued conflict in Syria will leave "nothing but a field of ruins." The pope said he hoped Israelis and Palestinians will commit ...
Addressing the economic crisis closer to home, the pontiff called on the European Union to make "farsighted" and "difficult" policy decisions favoring growth.
He called on policymakers to monitor closely the disparity between rich and poor as they do differences in bond market yields.
After releasing an encyclical calling on the faithful to fight climate change, Pope Francis sent out more than 50 in 24 hours, telling his 6.35 million followers about the need to change the way markets function and how people live their lives, and calling for a “bold cultural revolution” in order to protect the planet...
There is a value proper to each creature.
The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all.
The human environment and the natural environment deteriorate together.
The deterioration of the environment and of society affect the most vulnerable people on the planet.
To blame population growth, and not an extreme consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues.
A true “ecological debt” exists, particularly between the global north and south.
Developed countries ought to help pay this debt by limiting their consumption of nonrenewable energy.
Economic interests easily end up trumping the common good.
The alliance between economy and technology ends up sidelining anything unrelated to its immediate interests.
Each community has the duty to protect the earth and to ensure its fruitfulness for coming generations.
Every creature is the object of the Father’s tenderness, who gives it its place in the world.
A fragile world challenges us to devise intelligent ways of directing, developing and limiting our power.
At times more zeal is shown in protecting other species than in defending the equal dignity of human beings.
We continue to tolerate some considering themselves more worthy than others.
For believers, this becomes a question of fidelity to the Creator.
Never has humanity had such power over itself, yet nothing ensures that it will be used wisely.
Each age tends to have only a meagre awareness of its own limitations.
By itself the market cannot guarantee integral human development and social inclusion.
Scientific and technological progress cannot be equated with the progress of humanity and history.
Christian thought sees human beings as possessing a particular dignity above other creatures.
The culture of relativism drives one person to take advantage of another, to treat others as mere objects.
We need an integrated approach to combating poverty and protecting nature.
For indigenous communities, land is not a commodity, but a gift from God, a sacred space.
What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?
What is at stake is our own dignity.
Leaving an inhabitable planet to future generations is, first and foremost, up to us.
Interdependence obliges us to think of one world with a common plan.
A decrease in the pace of production and consumption can at times give rise to another form of progress and development.
We know how unsustainable is the behaviour of those who constantly consume and destroy.
Many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change.
Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is not a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.
Christian spirituality proposes an alternative understanding of the quality of life.
Let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope.
CLACTON MP Douglas Carswell has defended the amount of cash he claimed on expenses over the last year.
Figures have been released for the MP expense claims between April 2011 and March 2012.
Mr Carswell chalked up claims totalling £39,442.86 in that time span, the highest claim of any MP in Essex.
His biggest claims were just over £14,000 for office costs and nearly £13,400 in accommodation costs.
He also claimed £4,300 for travel expenses and more than £2,500 for stationary.
Mr Carswell says his claims figure is higher than other MPs in the county because he has to rent accommodation close to the House of Commons.
He said: “Gazette readers have a right to know how taxpayer money is used by their representatives.
“Given the anti-social hours the Commons sits, and the fact I have a young family, I need to have a home both in my Clacton constituency, and close to the House of Commons.
“I therefore rent a modest two bedroom property, and that accounts for a large portion of my claim.
“For the record, I have only ever rented a property, and never charged any mortgage to the taxpayer.
“Other costs relate to the costs associated with doing my job, such as office costs, the cost of renting a constituency office, staff costs and work related travel costs.
In comparison Harwich MP Bernard Jenkin claimed just under £21,000 in the same time period, while Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell claimed just under £26,000.
He was talking specifically about expanding AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps and the USA Freedom Corps, which is the volunteer initiative launched by the Bush administration after the attacks of 9/11, and about increasing the number of trained Foreign Service officers who populate U.S. embassies overseas.
Mefferd's guest, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), then launched into a new conspiracy theory about how Obamacare may be creating a secret security force, noted RightWingWatch.org (audio below).
"The provisions in [Obamacare] for the president’s own commissioned and non-commissioned officer corps and I've continued to ask questions, 'What is this for?'" said Rep. Gohmert. "It says it's for international health crisis, but then it doesn't include the word 'health' when it talk...

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