The United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU/EHS) and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) carried out a nationally representative household surveys on climate change and migration in the Pacific.
The islands in the region are some of the world’s most vulnerable territories, where people are already experiencing the devastating effects of climate change, like more intense storms, sea level increase, the intrusion of salt water and drought.
The survey, which included 1,852 people representing 852 families in Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu, found that more than 70 percent of families in Kiribati an Tuvalu, and 35 percent in Nauru reported that families would emigrate if the effects of climate change like droughts, rising sea level or floods got worse.
However, the study revealed that only a fourth of households have the financial resources to migrate, which could leave many of the inhabitants trapped in these areas to face the worsening of environmental condition in the short-term.
In this sense, Prime Minister from Tuvalu Enele Sosene Sopoaga and doctor Koko Warner, a UNU/EHS expert, will give a press conference today, among the activities included in the Climate Change Conference (COP21/CMP11) in Paris.
The Conferenc’s objective is to achieve in two weeks a universal binding agreement that limits the increase in global average temperature to below 2°Celsius.
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