Climate Refugees not to be forgotten in the Pacific region

Seeing as migration and refugees have been a big focus in the media recently it only seems fitting to observe the same theme in the Pacific Islands. In the second week of October Kiribati is hosting an international conference to discuss the issue of climate change refugees. The conference will bring together the atoll nations from the Pacific region and key international agencies (Radio New Zealand, 2015).

The IPCC has said atoll nations will be submerged in 30 years or less. Unfortunately recent studies have suggested this prediction may be more generous than thought (USGS, 2015). Although a small period of time, it allows enough warning for plans to be put in place to allow citizens to migrate in a way they would feel more dignified. Multi-lateral process and negotiations are taking too long so this meeting will be able to transfer ideas and concerns between the effected nations and relevant agencies (Radio New Zealand, 2015). Australia and New Zealand are already helping labour mobility programs, some countries in the Pacific region are providing skills for young people to better understand how to equip themselves with the issues to come. This demonstrates that actions are already been taken, but more countries need to be on board for accepting migrants, and the ones already doing so need to prepare for a larger intake (World Summit, 2015).

More needs to be done in the countries effected also. More labour mobility programmes to allow greater opportunities for these people to migrate and become citizens of other countries. These negotiations will also be discussing the need for more international law concerning the environment. Discussions with Switzerland and Norway about their Nansen initiative should help develop a law to cover climate induced migration (Kiribati Climate Change, 2015). With these concerns COP 21 is a very significant event that is coming up, and it is hoped that COP 21 will create more concrete plans on what to do next in the climate change battle (Radio New Zealand, 2015).

References

Kiribati Climate Change (2015) ‘EU announces $23 million Euro for Kiribati’ [Online] http://www.climate.gov.ki/tag/kiribati-president-anote-tong/

USGS (2015) 'Many atolls may be uninhabitable within decades due to climate change' [Online] http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=4346#.VhBVpvlViko

World Summit (2015) ‘Anote Tong’ [Online] http://www.worldsummit2015.org/sunhak-peace-prize/laureates/anote-tong


Radio New Zealand (2015) ‘Climate change migration the focus of Kiribati Summit’ [Online] http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/programmes/datelinepacific/audio/201772925/climate-change-migration-the-focus-of-kiribati-summit