Paris Climate Talks: Are Island Countries Asking for Too Much?3:21
At COP21 in Paris, small island nations are calling for a tougher climate change agreement. What are they asking for? Why could "loss and damage" become a polarizing issue? WSJ's Jason Bellini has #TheShortAnswer.
Tuvalu is one of the world’s lowest lying countries and most threatened by climate change.
CITIZENS of small Pacific nations on Australia’s doorstep say they feel “trapped” by effects of climate change with many looking overseas for a way out.
A survey of nearly 7000 people in more than 850 households in Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu, found nearly everyone there had been affecting by the rising sea levels, floods and drought due to climate change.
While nearly one quarter of people in Kiribati had already moved due to climate change, another 70 per cent said would look to migrate if the impact on their homes and country got any worse. Eight per cent of those in Tuvalu had already moved while 70 per cent said they would also consider moving, as did 35 per cent of those in Nauru.
United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) expert Dr Koko Warner, who carried out the study, said while people often move from outer islands in towards the capital, this not a “durable solution” long term.
“The potential for Pacific households to use international migration to manage the risks of climate change …is limited today and it’s limited by lack of access to international migration opportunities,” she said about the study that was the first and largest of its kind.
“Many potential migrants however will not have the means to migrate. In these three island states the average monthly income is about $26 Australian dollars… people told us they didn’t feel that that kind of income would make it possible for them to move if they chose to do so.”
An aerial view of the South Pacific islands of Tuvalu/Funafuti (Google Earth).Source:News Corp Australia
Pacific leaders have used their time on the world stage to appeal for an agreement that would limit global warming to 1.5 degrees by 2100 – a more ambitious target than the two degrees the UN is pushing for.
Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Enele Sosene Sopoaga said at the opening of the conference he believed no leader carried such a weight on their shoulders.
“No leader … can say the total of his territory and all citizens will disappear if we allow temperature increase of 1.5 degrees,” he said as others made the case for their own nations.
Nauru’s President Waqa saying the world “has a choice” about which direction to take as leaders call for a 1.5 degree cap on global warming over the next century, while Kiribati President Anote Tong said their very “survival is at stake” and pleaded for leaders to not just pay “lip service” to an ideal.
While the small islands are making a diplomatic case for action, they are also assessing plan B for their population should it come to that. However the study found for many, access to migration channels is restricted by money, international visa restrictions and practical arrangements.
EuropeAid’s head Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Unit Peter Craig-Mcquaide said for those living on the islands affected, migration should be a choice rather than a “last resort.”
“For migration to be an option that improves people’s lives rather than making them more vulnerable, countries need to account for human mobility in their domestic and regional policies to ensure that if people must move they can do so in safety and dignity,” he said.
Children swimming in Funafuti Lagoon on the South Pacific island of Tuvalu in 2001. Picture: Peter Bennetts.Source:News Limited
