Climate change forecasters have warned for years that the warmer and wetter world created by the climate crisis will drive a surge in mosquito-borne diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever.

Experts say that in the Pacific Islands, such predictions are now becoming a reality.

The regional development organisation, the Pacific Community, says between 2012 and 2021, its Pacific island members recorded 69 outbreaks of dengue fever, 12 outbreaks of Zika virus and 15 of Chikungunya virus. The diseases, which can sometimes be fatal, are all transmitted by mosquitoes that thrive in warm, humid conditions.