CLIMATE CHANGE AND MIGRATION IN THE PACIFIC: Links, attitudes, and future scenarios in Nauru, Tuvalu, and Kiribati

This fact sheet presents some of the main findings of the Pacific Climate Change and Migration (PCCM) project, the first nationally representative household survey of climate change and human mobility in the Pacific Small Island Developing States of Kiribati, Tuvalu and Nauru. In the period 2005-2015 over 90% of households in Kiribati and Tuvalu and three-quarters of households in Nauru were affected by climate related hazards. In the same period, 12% movements within and outside the countries were attributed to environmental stress. Across the three countries, almost one in ten of the population wanted to move in the period 2005-2015, but were unable to do so. The main reasons given for not being able to move were a lack of money, or visas to move internationally. Those that move have limited choices. Labour migration schemes to Australia and New Zealand accept fixed numbers from Kiribati and Tuvalu each year, meaning that proportionally many more Tuvaluans can move in this way than I-Kiribati which has a population ten times larger. In the absence of options to move internationally, populations are growing in the urban centres of South Tarawa and Funafuti in Kiribati and Tuvalu respectively. These movement will intensify pressure on water and sanitation and mean that in future a larger population will be exposed to more frequent and more intense climate change related risks.