Climate Change

Ioane Teitiota and Angua Erika and their three New Zealand-born children have lost claims for refugee status due to global warming.

Teitiota has been battling deportation to Kiribati since 2011, when he overstayed his visa.

He argued his family faced indirect persecution from man-made climate change, which has caused rising sea levels, contaminated water, destruction of crops, tidal surges, and extreme weather.

That's how the people of Tuvalu feel.

It's predicted the Island nation, the smallest archipelago in the Pacific, could be underwater in the next 30 to 50 years due to rising sea levels.

Tuvalese leaders spoke of their plight at a breakfast event in Mangere last week as part of a Climate Change Tour hosted by NZ NGOs including Tear Fund and Oxfam. The tour aims to create awareness around the effect climate change is having on our pacific neighbours, and continues in Christchurch and Wellington this week.

The vulnerability of the Pacific Islands to climate change has been the subject of significant round table dialogue and discussions based on reliable scientific information.

It is a global problem with wide-ranging impacts and in the South Pacific region, it is essential that the messages are communicated successfully with the various stakeholders to the local communities.

As the chair of the next COP21, France is fully mobilized to achieve an ambitious and legally binding agreement. And its diplomatic network is also mobilized for this.

The very existence of many of the island nations is threatened by the impact of climate change and they feel that their “big brother”, New Zealand, isn’t doing enough to help them.

Among the leaders speaking out, is the general secretary of the Christian Church of Tuvalu and founder of the Pacific Islands Climate Action Network, Rev Tafue Lusama.

His homeland, Tuvalu, is projected to be underwater in less than 50 years.

With many of the island nations that dot the Pacific Ocean east of Australia, threatened by rising sea levels, climate change and sustainable development is a common concern.

The 14 nations are: Cook Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Nauru, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Niue, Palau, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

Climate change will be a high priority subject at the talks with the 14 nations, Anil Wadhwa, secretary (East) in the ministry of external affairs said at a briefing here.

As part of their planning for the region’s premiere political meeting, to be held in Port Moresby next month, officials will consider a consolidated regional political statement on the global climate negotiations.

Members of the Pacific Islands Forum Officials Committee will consider the text of a statement that brings together the key demands of Pacific island governments in the global climate negotiations.

The council heard pleas from ministers and ambassadors from Pacific states such as Kiribati, Fiji, Samoa, Niue and the Marshall Islands, and Caribbean countries like St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The island states want financial and technical assistance, to help avoid being washed away in the rising tides and powerful storms caused by global warming.

The president of Kiribati, Anote Tong, says the plight of smaller islands for too long has been at the bottom of the list of priorities of the United Nations and other global organisations.

Acting Director of Tuvalu Meteorological Service, Tauala Katea told the Third Pacific Meteorological Council meeting the new glossary will have the English weather forecasting terms translated into Tuvaluan.

“The glossary will greatly assist the work of journalists who will deliver the weather information to the people in the islands,” said Mr.Katea.

Journalists in Tuvalu have been struggling with the translation of weather and climate terms into the vernacular language.

Team leader of GIZ, the German International Cooperation Agency based in Suva, Fiji, Dr. Wulf Killman (pictured) told the MSG meeting in Honiara, Solomon Islands on 26th June that under the EU GIZ ACSE program the four Melanesian countries have been awarded €1m each for projects on climate change adaptation and sustainable energy.

GIZ is a fully German Government–owned technical cooperation agency. With about 20,000 staff it is assisting many countries worldwide, among them the 14 independent Pacific Island Countries, on sustainable development issues.

 From Vanuatu Daily Post/PACNEWS