On the Fiji island of Serua, the water enters the villages at high tide.

The residents' boats are right next to their houses.

Wooden planks span between individual houses, forming a makeshift walkway as the salt water of the sea floods the gardens.

The village elders have always assumed that they will die on this precious land where their ancestors are already buried.

But with the community unable to adjust to the rising Pacific Ocean, the 80 islanders face the painful decision of leaving their homes.

38-year-old Semisi Madanawa is raising three children on the island.

He says that given the flooding and extreme weather conditions, the village would have to relocate to Fiji's main island, Viti Levu, to ensure the future of the next generation.

But the village elders refuse.

With the help of land reclamation, they try to keep the sea from taking the houses and graves of their ancestors on Serua Island.

"It takes time for an idea to settle in people's hearts to accept the changes that are coming," says Madanawa.

"Climate change is happening and we have to make a decision soon."

At a July 2022 summit in Fiji's capital, Suva, the leaders of 15 low-lying Pacific island nations declared climate change their "top existential threat."

They are demanding that developed nations, which are the biggest contributors to global warming, not only limit their emissions but also pay for the measures islanders need to take to protect their populations from rising sea levels.

This push has become one of the main points of contention at the United Nations climate conferences.

Building dams, planting mangroves and improving drainage are no longer enough to save villages in most cases, says Shivanal Kumar, a climate change adaptation specialist at Fiji's Ministry of Economy.

“The effects of climate change have been felt for many years and at some point they gave up and now say it's time to move.

The resettlement aims to uphold human rights by protecting them from rising sea levels, larger storm surges and more extreme cyclones, Kumar says.

However, the funds pledged by the industrialized nations at the UN climate conference do not cover resettlement, only adaptation to climate change, such as the construction of a dam.

A total of six villages have been resettled on Fiji since 2014.

Another 795 villages will have to move, says teen climate activist Salote Nasalo, who can't sleep thinking about where to go.

Pacific youth will continue to protest the inaction of big issuers on funding, says Nasolo, who studies at the University of South Pacific.

The first community to be resettled was Vunidogoloa, after villagers invited officials to see what it's like to live with water up to your knees.

The salt water prevented residents from growing crops, thereby robbing them of their livelihood and food security.

In the new village, about 1.5 kilometers inland on the island of Vanua Levu, the residents are now firmly on the ground with dry feet.

Ramatu, 63, says it took time to convince elders to move, but the village pulled together and listened to experts.

He also demands help and that industrial nations should pay for the losses of the residents.