This overview challenges the commonly accepted notion that Pacific societies are all doomed to an uncertain near and distant future despite their inherently different exposures to, experiences of, and attitudes to climate change. It also recognizes that the scientific narrative of climate change acts as a catalyst for new regional alliances and movements aiming to take proactive climate action, from the global to the local levels. We therefore advocate for nuanced views of the climate-related changes that are occurring in the Pacific region, based on a multi-scalar approach that integrates the ecological, sociocultural, economic and political dimensions of these changes. This would require the building of bridges, still too few and fragile, between the environmental and social science approaches. We intend to contribute to these efforts by connecting some of the most recent scientific research and projections concerning global climate change and its effects in the Pacific region, alongside the diversity of local perceptions, narratives and adaptation pathways.