A strong storm impacting NW Alaska with high winds and sea level rise (over 6 ft) caused localized flooding in Kotzebue.

SUVA, Fiji, Nov 8 2017 (IPS) - In the Pacific, climate change is an ever-present threat, undermining human rights, livelihoods, and security. Pacific Islanders are working with courage and resolve to build the resilience of their communities and to catalyse international actions towards ending global carbon pollution. While the Pacific has contributed almost nothing to the causes of climate change, the region is determined to lead the world towards a more just and sustainable future. And while often labelled as ‘small island states’, Pacific Island countries are more accurately characterised as ‘large oceans states’ as they are custodians of vast tracts of ocean, to which their economies, culture, identities and livelihoods are inextricably tied.

As climate change fuels large wildfires, the pollution they're releasing is making Americans sick and undermining decades of progress in cleaning the air.

Fiji and other Pacific island nations are vulnerable to rising seas that have flooded villages and forced residents to abandon their homes.

The number of outages is down from a peak of 484,000 statewide after winds and rain ravaged the region Monday morning.

We put out the call for images of storm damage across the state Monday morning and our readers answered with some great shots.

Disaster funds are reserved for single events, and storms that collectively cause much damage aren't often individually large enough to count as disasters.

Post-tropical cyclone Ophelia put Ireland on a shutdown.

"All it would take is one or two big storms and these houses you see behind me would be gravely at risk."

About a year ago, Tununak opened a $19 million, state-of-the-art airport, but shifting permafrost is buckling the runway.

Tununak Airport near Bethel is facing a catastrophic problem, as airlines are refusing to land there due to the village's shifting permafrost.

The wind known as the Diablo is picking up again, the air is dry, there is no rain in sight and the killer wildfires that have scorched the wine country of Northern California remain almost completely uncontained. Officials warned Wednesday that some of the big fires could merge. Amid these grim bulletins, the huge utility company PG&E acknowledged that the extreme winds late Sunday and early Monday had knocked trees into power lines in conditions conducive to wildfires.

Climate change is thawing the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta’s permafrost, and it’s doing more than cracking foundations, sinking roads and accelerating erosion.

If you’re living in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta a hundred years from now, it’s going to be hot and wet, according to a new study by scientists at the International Arctic Research Center, an institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

In a matter of hours, Hurricane Maria wiped out about 80 percent of the crop value in Puerto Rico — making it one of the costliest storms to hit the island’s agriculture industry.

Hurricane Maria barreled through the islands that curve through the Caribbean.

When Hurricane Irma ravaged the Caribbean island of Barbuda, the storm left it uninhabitable." And, now, for the first time in 300 years, no one lives there.

HEALY, ALASKA—Bitter winters still dominate life in the Alaskan interior, but a practiced eye can spot the signs of a warming climate, particularly in the ground. Beneath the rolling fields of tussock scattered just north of the Alaska Range, what was once permanently frozen is starting to thaw. The impacts could ripple across the planet.

Residents are now being asked to stay away from Nahanni Butte, N.W.T., after being forced out Thursday night by a forest fire burning close to the community.

Early Tuesday morning, a rockslide crashed into Skagway’s largest cruise ship dock. It was the second slide event in less than two weeks and caused a pair of cruise ships to divert to other ports. Some Skagway residents are calling on the city and the private company that owns the dock to take action.