In the Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea, hundreds of people may soon have to abandon their homes, pushed inland by the rising sea. Hundreds more were buried in a devastating landslide this year. Around the country, intensive logging is shrinking the island’s lush rainforests, and mine tailings have polluted its rivers.

On Friday, Pope Francis, who has long begged the world to preserve nature, started his visit to a place that is a stark example of how human action can harm the environment. Locals hoped his presence would make a difference.

“Your holiness, climate change is real,” Bob Dadae, the governor general of Papua New Guinea, told Francis at a meeting on Saturday. “The rise in the sea level is affecting the livelihoods of our people,” he added, asking for the pope’s support for “global action and advocacy.”

Francis did not immediately speak of climate change, but at the meeting in Port Moresby at APEC Haus, a conference center, he said that the country’s environmental “treasures” should be developed in a sustainable way, and for the benefit of all people, not just a few.

When Francis landed in Port Moresby, the nation’s capital, on Friday evening, thousands stood along the road from the airport to welcome him. Some had walked for days from inland mountainous areas for a glimpse of the pope. He arrived after four days in Indonesia, part of an 11-day, four-nation trip to the region.