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Each time the ocean surged through their coastal Fijian village, residents would use rafts to move from house to house. They watched crops die as saltwater contaminated the soil. Finally, in 2014, the entire village of Vunidogoloa moved inland in what the government described as a pioneering relocation project driven by global warming.

Starting Monday, Fiji will preside over a U.N. climate change summit in Bonn, Germany. Fiji and other Pacific island nations are particularly vulnerable to rising seas and changing weather and want the world to understand their plight. While Fiji doesn't face an existential threat like some of its Pacific neighbors, it is already battling the effects of climate change.

Sailosi Ramatu, the 57-year-old headman of Vunidogoloa village on VanuaLevu island, said he felt deep sadness the day the 130 villagers had to leave their homes. Most were subsistence fishermen. Some, aged in their 80s and 90s, had lived there their entire lives.

"I can't explain those last moments," Ramatu said. "There were people living in their old houses, crying, alone. They looked back at their homes; they looked back at the village. It was the last time they'd see the village before moving to their new homes."

Three years later, Ramatu said moving was their only option. He said their new location means they can now grow crops without fearing they will be destroyed. He said the new village has given the children hope and a chance at a future.

The headman said the 30-minute walk to the old