Port Moresby – Several small island states could walk out on the Pacific Islands Forum if Australia and New Zealand force them to compromise on a declaration demanding an ambitious target to combat climate change.

The president of Kiribati, Anote Tong, issued the ultimatum declaring: “We cannot negotiate this, no matter how much aid. We cannot be bought on this one because it’s about the future.”

Tong raised the prospect of either states walking out or Australia being asked to leave the forum if its two more powerful members forced a compromise on the commitment of island states to the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Acceptance of such a compromise would be “a betrayal of our people”, he said, insisting that even a 1.5 degree temperature rise would leave the most vulnerable states in deep trouble.

He challenged Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott to “swap shoes” with those leaders representing island states that were already being ravaged by climate change.

“If Tony Abbott was here, facing the situation we are facing now, what kind of an answer would he expect from me if I was prime minister of Australia?” Tong asked.

Fairfax Media has suggested that Australian and New Zealand officials are working hard to soften the climate change declaration to be endorsed by the meeting, including removing a reference to the goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.

Strong declarations, including a call for a moratorium on new coal mines, have been endorsed by smaller island states in the lead-up to this week’s summit.

Warning that climate change would force the relocation of entire communities, Tong said: “It’s already happening.”

Tong’s impassioned ultimatum was backed by Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga, who told reporters in Port Moresby: “I think the sentiments that have been expressed by the president of Kiribati Anote Tong are strongly shared by leaders of smaller island states.”

But the forum chair, Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, held out hope that the meeting would agree on a declaration acceptable to all.

“The forum has been withstanding many challenges for many, many years, so I don’t think that our own differences of opinion or disagreements will be a cause of the disintegration of the forum itself,” he said.

“I do not wish to pre-empt the outcome of the forum leaders’ meeting but we will reach a common understanding one way or the other during the course of this meeting.”

He expressed confidence that as “a very good friend of the Pacific,” Abbott would be wiling to hear the voices of those calling for more ambitious action.

“We will give him every opportunity to participate fully at the upcoming meeting,” he said.

Greenpeace’s chief executive David Ritter says it would be nice if the Australian and New Zealand governments tried not to water down language in a Pacific Island Forum statement on climate change to be released today.

Ritter accuses Abbott of being “missing in action” on the welfare of Pacific neighbours.

He says it’s appropriate for the Australian leader to face a cold shoulder from the Pacific, because he’s dealing with people facing an existential threat and he’s not treating them respectfully.

Meanwhile, Fiji’s prime minister has blamed Australia’s inaction on climate change for his decision to boycott the Pacific Islands Forum in Papua New Guinea.

Frank Bainimarama instead sent along his Foreign Minister, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, to represent Fiji at the official leaders summit.

“I regret that I am unable to attend myself because of the refusal of Australia and New Zealand to step back and allow the Pacific island nations to determine their own futures free from outside interference,” he said in a personal letter to PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.

Bainimarama said there were significant differences with Australia over its policies on climate change that are “clearly not in the interests of the Pacific small island developing states.”

He passed on his warmest greetings to PNG and reiterated Fiji’s cooperation with the forum at ministerial and official level.