During a recent visit to Canberra, Senior Minister of the Marshall Islands Tony De Brum has reinforced his country's fears of being swamped by rising seas due to global warming.
During a speech entitled “Climate change is destroying my country” presented at the Australian National University, he urged bigger countries in the Pacific region to step up to the challenge of tackling climate change.
“We do consider Australia to be a big brother to us smaller countries in the Pacific, both from the south and the north Pacific. We think Australia is an essential part of this equation and must take a leadership role.”
For Australia's island neighbours, climate change is an immediate problem requiring urgent solutions. “Even a moderate rise in temperatures could see smaller nations go under,” Mr de Brum said.
Australia has promised to fund infrastructure projects to help islands cope with the changes. With the recent decision to transfer our asylum seekers to neighbouring nations however, the issue of environmental refugees will become increasingly problematic.
The UNHCR defines refugees as people fleeing from persecution.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Pacific Matt Thistlewaite says that environmental refugees may not be covered.
“The High Commissioner warns people leaving their countries for environmental reasons… [they] might not be covered in the existing definition," he said.
“Changing the definition is unlikely to happen in the current climate.”
Stephen Howes from the Australian National University agrees. “The whole issue of who's a refugee, and what we do with refugees is so controversial that you're not going to be able to revisit that.”
The rise of sea levels means many islands would go under. Mr de Brum said Pacific Island atolls like his own would disappear.
"There'll be a loss of nationhood, a loss of sovereignty, a loss of peoplehood, a loss of culture and tradition. It is something that I don't think we are even prepared to think about, but we must consider as an inevitable event if we do not curb this global warming business. The polluters of the world must realise that."
He wants a recommitment to finding a viable solution to climate change at the Pacific forum on Marshall Islands in September.
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