Tuvalu has called for stronger United Nations support to address growing security threats facing Pacific-island countries.

The tiny state which consists of three reef islands and six atolls told the UN general assembly in New York that small-island states cannot confront transnational crime on their own.

Speaking on behalf of the government and for nearly 10,000 people, Tuvalu Police Commissioner Matatia Makaili said the country surrounded by Vanuatu, Nauru, Kiribati, Tokelau, Samoa, and Wallis and Futuna, is responsible for solely policing more than 750,000 square kilometres of ocean despite having limited law enforcement resources.

Commissioner Makaili told the general assembly the Pacific faces security threats including maritime crime and human-trafficking as well as a heavy workload of mitigating the impacts of climate change.

"Our region faces a perfect storm of transnational crime, climate displacement, nuclear testing in our ocean, and tiny island nations facing converging resource constraints," he said.

"We are the victim - we cannot face this alone."

He also urged the international community to establish four new Pacific-focused United Nations coordination frameworks: to strengthen maritime security, to build law enforcement capacity, to improve responses to the climate-crime nexus, and to support regional prosecution efforts.

The commissioner also called on the world's leaders to back their commitments with "concrete action".

"We need commitments, not promises. Resources, not rhetoric. Action, not analysis. Pacific-island security is global security," he said.

"Together, we build a stronger future."

Tuvalu says its participation at the assembly summit provided an opportunity to highlight Pacific security concerns and push for stronger international partnerships to address the challenges facing small-island developing states.

The rare addresses inside the UN headquarters allows the Polynesian people, who are also facing the disintegration of their land and culture subject to global warming, a one-time voice on the world stage.

A United Nations sustainability forum last week also permitted Tuvalu an opportunity to press industrialised countries for faster climate finance and reforms through its global financial systems.

Tuvalu has warned its development goals could not be met without urgent support for the world's most vulnerable countries.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Panapasi Nelesone, told the 2026 high-level political forum that Tuvalu remained committed to the UN's sustainable development goals, but argued that the entire world already knows what needs to be done and appears to be failing on delivery.

"As we enter the final stretch to 2030, the question before us is no longer whether we know what needs to be done be do," he said in Tuvalu's national statement

"The real question is whether we have the collective will to deliver on the promises we have made."

The forum held under the theme Delivering Better: Accelerating Urgent and Transformative Action to Achieve the SDGs by 2030 is the United Nations' main platform for reviewing progress towards its 2030 agenda.

For one of the world's smallest and most climate-exposed countries, most of which are inside the heart of the Pacific, sustainable development is inseparable for Tuvalu from climate resilience.

The government says rising sea levels, droughts and economic shocks are intensifying pressure on the country's development priorities and widening the gap between ambition and capacity.

Tuvalu has stated it is implementing the 2030 agenda through Te Kete, a Polynesian world for "the basket", the country's national strategy for sustainable development, but it has called for changes to international financial institutions and stronger support for technology transfer and capacity-building.

"Let us ensure that when history looks back on this decisive decade, it will say that we chose action over delay, solidarity over indifference, and implementation over promises," Mr Nelesone said.

The appeal from Tuvalu comes as small-island and least-developed countries continue to argue that they bear the highest costs of climate change while contributing the least to the emissions driving it.