A climate change correspondent says practical measures, like water conservation, will help Pacific nations deal with the effects of climate change better.
The inter-governmental panel on climate change projects the sea level rise to be somewhere between 28 and 56 centimetres by the end of the century.
Former BBC climate change correspondent and freelance journalist, Alex Kirby says climate change intensifies existing problems like water shortage and vulnerable low-lying populations.
He says Pacific countries should be thinking about getting crops that can withstand drought and harvesting rain water.
"Trapping it when it's on your roof and funneling it into a barrell or something like that so it doesn't all run away and do no good. I'd also want to be thinking about food. Obviously food depends on water. There are crops being developed which are resistant to drought and resistant to growing in areas where the sea water has intruded where the ground is salty. I know there are rice varieties being developed which can do that. I'd want to be finding out about those and getting a hold of them."
Alex Kirby says journalists in the Pacific need to get their stories of how climate change is affecting them out into the world media.
