Iliesa Tora
RNZ Pacific senior sports journalist
A New Zealand
government-backed regional climate mobility programme has
been launched to help ensure Pacific people remain at the
centre of decisions about their homes and futures in the
face of climate change.
The NZ$17.9 million Pacific
Climate Mobility Partnerships Programme (PCMP) has been
established to help Pacific Islands strengthen regional
cooperation and implement practical, people-centred
responses to climate mobility challenges.
Climate
mobility can be described as the movement of people, whether
through migration, displacement or planned relocation, in
response to the impacts of climate change.
Fiji’s
permanent secretary for environment and climate change Dr
Sivendra Michael said the initiative, which would support a
dozen islands, was an important step as Pacific peoples
confront the impacts of the climate crisis.
He said
the region was on the frontlines of increasing
climate-related hazards, sea-level rise, environmental
degradation, and displacement. These impacts were placing a
growing pressure on livelihoods, wellbeing and human
security across island communities.
The launch of the
regional initiative in Suva brought together stakeholders
from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the
Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), the United Nations
Human Rights Office (OHCHR), the Platform on Disaster
Displacement (PDD), the Pacific Community (SPC), and the
Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme
(SPREP).
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IOM chief of mission and sub-regional
coordinator Solomon Kantha stressed that no single
government, organisation or community could address climate
mobility alone.
“Our strength lies in the breadth of
this partnership and in our shared commitment to
Pacific-led, rights-based and people-centred action,” he
said.
He said the programme was designed to advance
Pacific-led solutions that were culturally appropriate,
gender-responsive, and disability-inclusive, and ensure
communities most affected by climate change are at the
centre of decision-making and action.
The programme
marks the third phase of regional support for climate
mobility in the Pacific and builds on the achievements of
the Pacific Climate Change Migration and Human Security
Programme.
It will support climate mobility priorities
in Fiji, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Marshall
Islands, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu, while
contributing to broader regional efforts under the Pacific
Regional Framework on Climate Mobility (PRFCM) 2025-2030 and
its accompanying implementation plan.
The Pacific
Islands Forum leaders endorsed the Pacific Regional
Framework on Climate Mobility (PRFCM) in 2023 to serve as a
guide for governments and communities, ensuring that any
movement related to climate change is grounded in leadership
and collaboration, human rights, protecting cultural
identity and dignity and continuing statehood, nationality
and associated rights.
The PRFCM outlines ‘Planned
Relocation’ as one of the five core areas for priority
action, including staying in place, safe migration,
displacement from extreme weather, and the long-term impacts
of sea-level rise.
The climate change crisis,
disasters, and other natural calamities present a profound
challenge to communities across the Pacific
Islands.
As sea levels rise and extreme weather events
intensify, many communities are reaching the limits of
adaptation and are confronted not only with the prospect of
leaving their ancestral lands, but also with the deep
disruption, loss, and trauma that accompany such
movement.
That includes low-lying islands in Tuvalu
and Kiribati, two of the worst affected so far. Other
islands in Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Tonga are also
experiencing slow washouts as sea level rise
continues.
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