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Australia "underfunding" Pacific climate change research: report

Xinhua, September 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Australia must do more to assist its Pacific island neighbors battle the issue of climate change, a new Oxfam Australia report on climate change has recommended.

The Australian-based arm of the not-for-profit released its "After Paris: Climate Finance in the Pacific Islands" report on Tuesday, which said Australia was "underfunding" climate research in the Pacific, an issue which could spell the end of low-lying island nations such as Kiribati.

The Turnbull government currently allocates 150 million U.S dollars to climate finance annually, however following the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris last year, it chose not to increase its contribution in 2016.

Oxfam Australia's chief executive Helen Szoke described Australia as "lagging behind" other developed nations in increasing its contributions to climate change research.

"In coming decades, big numbers of Pacific people - in some cases entire nations - could be forced from their homes and losing their livelihoods in the face of an escalation in climate related impacts," Szoke told the Australian Associated Press (AAP) on Tuesday.

"As a wealthy nation and one of the biggest countries in the region, Australia has a particular responsibility to support its vulnerable neighbors in the Pacific."

Szoke said Australia should aim to up its contribution to 2.5 billion U.S dollars by 2020, and called on the government to boost its aid budget, which had fallen to a "historic low".

"Australia's contribution is weak compared to other developed nations, which have increased their spending on climate finance," she said.

"What's more, our contributions are now being drawn from an aid budget which has been slashed to a historic low of 23 cents in every 100 dollars.

"Oxfam is calling for Australia's total public and private annual contribution to climate finance to reach at least 2.5 billion U.S dollars in less than four years."

The report listed 50 recommendations to help fight climate change in the Pacific, including improving access to the Green Climate Fund global initiative. Endit