United Nations Radio

INTRO: Pacific Island nations produce the lowest carbon emissions in the world, yet they are expected to suffer some of the worst consequences of climate change. For many Pacific residents, the worsening effects of climate change will not mean the inconvenience of a hotter summer or more intense rainfall, but the end to life as they know it. UN Radio's Alicia Wood reports:

WOOD: More than 7 million people live on 22 island nations in the Pacific Ocean.  Senior United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Policy Adviser, Gonzalo Vargas-Llosa says the UNHCR is very concerned that many of these people may become homeless.

MR VARGAS-LLOSA: "There are serious organizations who have made some guesstimates that by 2050 there could be at least 150 million people forced to leave their homes as a result of climate change related reasons."

WOOD: Mr Vargas-Llosa says the concern is all the more acute because there is no current legal recognition of climate change refugee status.

MR VARGAS-LLOSA: "In fact, there are no climate change refugees. Refugees as defined in the 1951 refugee convention, the definition there is quite limited. It talks about people fleeing because of persecution, or war for example, but not because of climate change reasons, which means that if there are large numbers of people having to leave their country and cross into another country, there is at the moment no legal instrument like the refugee convention that would protect them, and ensure that they have access to that country where they are fleeing."

WOOD: Many Pacific nations used the 64th General Assembly debate as a platform to voice their concerns about the possibility of major environmental damage.
President of Palau Johnson Toribiong told fellow world leaders that time was running out for his tiny island nation.

MR TORIBIONG: "We are seeing now that the sea, which has long been the source of our sustenance, is both rising in rage to destroy us and becoming barren. This fury was caused by the abuses of humankind and we therefore need to take every action necessary to allow the oceans to heal themselves."

WOOD: Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key told UN Radio that the disappearance of island states would dramatically affect the political and cultural make-up of the Pacific.

MR KEY: "It would be devastating for those countries and it would be an almost incomprehensible tragedy, we're talking about the submersion of countries like Kiribati and Tuvalu which are an important part of our region whose opinion and voice we value. Now I'm very hopeful that it won't come to that and we're doing whatever we can to play our part."

WOOD: Prime Minister Key said New Zealand was in the process of discussing how the country would cope with an influx of climate change refugees.

MR KEY: "From New Zealand's point of view, we have a very large Pacific community and what we've said to that community is that obviously if the worst came to the worst and we're going to do everything we can to make sure it doesn't, New Zealand will look very favorably on those people."

WOOD: Alicia Wood for UN Radio.

Producer: Nick Baker and Alicia Wood.
Duration: 2'39"