Transcript Maria Tiimon - Climate Change in Kiribati and Migration

Climate Change in
Kiribati and Migration
• Pacific Calling Partnership/Edmund
Rice Centre
• Kiribati background
• Kiribati and climate change
• Mitigation, Adaptation, and Migration
Maria Tiimon Chi-Fang
The Pacific Calling Partnership
 Began in recognition of the negative impact climate change
was having on the Pacific Islands especially on low lying
islands
 Committed to listening to what islanders are saying about
imminent threats to their way of life and collaborating with
them in passing this important message on.
 The PCP conducts advocacy campaigns, seminars,
workshops and other community educational projects
Kiribati
• made up of 33 coral atolls
• spread over 3.5 million square kilometres,
• along the equator and the international date
line
•population105 thousand
an average height of only 2-3 meters
Main diet
Local Houses
Effects of climate change
Abundant breadfruit tree
Breadfruit tree dead from drought and sea
inundation
Erosion
Coastal erosion/ heat/coral acidification
Ground water (well water)
• Mitigation
• Adaptation
• Migration
HIS EXCELLENCY MR. ENELE S SOPOAGA

What we prefer is that our great
grandchildren grow up the way I did,
and the way my wife and our brothers
and sisters did, in our island
communities, learning the traditions,
customs, and culture of Tuvalu, and
living out our way of life.
CLIMATE CHANGE DOESN’T FIT THE
REFUGEE CATEGORY
As a matter of law, people who move because of climate
change don't fit the refugee category," says Jane
McAdam, director of the International Refugee and
Migration Law Project at the University of New South
Wales in Australia. She recently edited a book called
Climate Change and Displacement.
MIGRATION WITH DIGNITY
Kiribati President: Migration
with dignity strategy is an
investment in youth education
to allow them to develop
employable skills so that they
can migrate to other countries
voluntarily
MIGRATION WITH DIGNITY
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Kiribati Australia Nursing Initiative
Pacific Seasonal Scheme
Australia Pacific Technical College
Other skills
Pacific Islanders, we don’t want to be called
climate refugees, we want to move with respect
and dignity..
Support the Anote Tong Nobel Peace Prize
 http://www.TongNPP.info/ put your thought on
the website
 Raise the awareness in your own communities
 Support the work of the Pacific Calling

Thank you (Kam rabwa)