Off the wire
• 2nd LD-Writethru: China stocks surge 2.92 pct Tuesday  • Pacific island nations unsatisfied with Australia, NZ action on climate change  • Urgent: Iran ready to talk with U.S., Saudi Arabia on Syria: Rouhani  • Taiwan stocks close up 0.18 pct  • Roundup: S. Korean shares fall on China's export fall  • Rodriguez not optimistic of keeping red jersey to Madrid  • 3rd LD Writethru-China Focus: China foreign trade decline widens in August  • China Hushen 300 index futures surge on Tuesday  • China treasury bond futures close lower Tuesday  • Uganda to host Kenya in build-ups for U-19 ICC World Cup qualifiers  
You are here: 　 Home

Kiribati warns of humanitarian crisis in Pacific

Xinhua, September 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Pacific region will plunge into a humanitarian crisis akin to the one unfolding in Europe if climate change is not significantly tackled, the president of Kiribati warned on Tuesday.

Kiribati President Anote Tong expected some communities of the small island nation will have to relocate completely within the next five years.

"Within 20 years we're going to have a real big, big problem," Tong told reporters at the Pacific Islands Forum in Papua New Guinea.

Tong reportedly rejected the term climate refugees, insisting his people will be "migrating with dignity."

The forum would be betraying peoples' trust if it didn't back measures to keep the global warming temperature rise below 1.5 degrees, Tong said.

"This is the test, the survival of our future generations is not negotiable ... We can not be bought on aid," Tong said.

The small island nations of the pacific are the most vulnerable to human induced climate change, with the collective leaders aiming to hold the world to restrict the global warming temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, fearing that a 2-degree target will risk the existence of many islands.

There are fears among the leaders that Pacific heavyweights Australia and New Zealand will try and water down language of the Forum's climate change declaration this week ahead of the Paris climate change summit in December. Endi