Faster-than-average sea level rise, ocean warming and acidification are threatening the Pacific Islands, the World Meteorological Organization said, as regional leaders meet to discuss economic and security issues this week.

The latest WMO report found that sea surface temperatures in the Pacific had risen three times faster than the global average since 1980. Marine heatwaves had also doubled in frequency over the same period.

UN secretary-general António Guterres once again sought to highlight the region as one which had done little to contribute to the world’s greenhouse gas emissions yet faced some of the most serious consequences, as he attended the Pacific Islands Forum of leaders of 18 member states, mostly low-lying islands and atolls vulnerable to climate change, held in Tonga.