King Charles will land in Samoa today to preside over his first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), with the meeting set to be dominated by debates over climate change, ocean protection and the legacy of colonialism.

The monarch and Queen Camilla will fly out of Australia this morning and head straight to the Pacific island state, where they’re expected to be greeted by large crowds.

Samoa’s government has made it clear that its key priority is using the event to champion action on climate change and gender equality, as well as showcasing the country to international media and a huge host of high-level visitors.

Small island states are expected to use the meeting to demand larger and more developed nations scale down fossil fuel subsidies and hugely ramp up climate finance to help them deal with the cascading impacts of climate change.

All 56 commonwealth member nations are also set to endorse a landmark Oceans Declaration which is expected to make sweeping commitments on ocean protection — although the language of the agreement has not yet been released.

The secretary-general of the commonwealth, former UK Labour minister Patricia Scotland, told the ABC in Apia that small countries were “terrified” by the prospect of being subsumed by rising seas.

She said the declaration would help them preserve their maritime boundaries in perpetuity, as well as working on “regenerative development” to halt climate change.

“We know if we’re going to retain the quality of our oceans then we are going to have to invest in it,” she said.

Baroness Scotland also said the commonwealth had already delivered more than $350 million in climate finance for member states, and was confident that it could mobilise a further $500 million.

“The thing I know, is that we have a choice — we can either work together and we can swim together, or we can swim separately,” she said.

But discussions over colonialism, slavery and the commonwealth’s roots in the British Empire will inevitably also arise, particularly when leaders elect a new secretary-general to replace Baroness Scotland.

All three candidates for the position — Shirley Botchwey, Ghana’s foreign minister, Joshua Setipa, a former trade minister for Lesotho and Mamadou Tangara, Gambia’s foreign minister — have called for financial reparations or “reparatory justice” for countries which suffered under colonialism and slavery.

The king last year expressed “great sorry and regret” at the wrongs of the colonial era but stopped short of a formal apology, which would have required agreement from the Sunak government.

Some MPs in the UK’s new Labour government have pressed Prime Minister Keir Stamer to open the door to reparations now he is in power, but multiple British media outlets have reported that Downing Street has ruled that out, along with any apology for colonialism.

Baroness Scotland told the ABC that it was up to commonwealth leaders to decide whether they wanted to raise the issue when they meet on Friday and Saturday this week.

“The commonwealth has never run away from any difficult discussion,” she said.

Locals excited ahead of royal visit 

Some locals in Apia have also told the ABC they’d like issues around colonialism to be on the agenda – although most who spoke to the ABC said they were simply delighted to see the royals in the country.

Rasela Uapo, a vegetable seller at Fugalei market, said she was “very excited” by the approaching visit.

“I just see them when they are on the TV … here this time we can see them (for) real,” she said.

That enthusiasm is shared by some of those travelling to Samoa from other parts of the Pacific to take part in the event.

Solomon Islander Loreta Nasala, who is a member of the Gizo Market Vendors Association said she was delighted to see the royals in the Pacific.

“I represent one of the commonwealth countries Solomon Islands and I am proud to see my king as King Charles and Camilla coming here … without them this wouldn’t be happening in Samoa,” she said.

But Pauli Fetu Sa’ili, from the Samoan Women’s Association of Growers, told the ABC that institutions and countries which benefited from colonialism had an obligation to help people in Samoa.

“You know, colonialism issue has been in my mind,” she said.

“I’m looking forward with what they’re offering to the locals, especially the ones in rural areas, because that has been a cry for years and am at the point where (I’m saying), please, what are you going to do?”