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Citizens of climate-threatened Tuvalu will have the right to live in Australia, offering them refuge as their Pacific homeland sinks to the sea, under a landmark agreement announced on Friday.
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Prime Minister Kauseya Natano and Anthony Albanese Treaty signed to help Tuvalu’s 11,000 residents climate changeAnd seek shelter if the worst happens.
Tuvalu is one of the countries in the world most vulnerable to rising sea levels.
two TuvaluMost of the nine coral islands of the Caribbean have already disappeared beneath the waves, and climate scientists fear the entire archipelago will become uninhabitable within the next 80 years.
Natano said the deal was a “beacon of hope” for his imperiled country and that the support offered “touched our hearts deeply.”
Under the agreement, Tuvaluan citizens will be able to Australiaand receive “access to education, health care, and primary income and family support in Australia upon arrival”.
read morePacific island nations work to secure their futures before rising sea levels swallow them
Refugee law expert Jane McAdam described the agreement as “groundbreaking”.
“This is the first agreement specifically focused on climate-related mobility,” the UNSW professor told AFP.
“Most people don’t want to leave their homes, they have very strong ancestral connections to the land and the sea – but this offers them a lifeline.”
To avoid a damaging “brain drain”, the number of Tuvaluans who can move to Australia each year will initially be limited to 280.
New Zealand The idea of offering “climate visas” to Pacific island nations was previously mooted, but was abandoned amid opposition from island nations concerned about large-scale economic migration.
Under the agreement announced Friday, Australia also pledged A$16 million ($10 million) to bolster the country’s shrinking coastline and reclaim lost land.
But there is also an acknowledgement that action is not happening fast enough and the effects of climate change are already being felt.
“At the same time, we believe that as the impacts of climate change worsen, the people of Tuvalu have the right to choose to live, study and work elsewhere,” the joint statement said.
Mr Albanese said Australia was willing to offer similar deals to its Pacific neighbours.
“We are open to suggestions from other countries on how to strengthen our partnership,” he said, stressing that such suggestions must be tailored to each country.
Geopolitical victory
The agreement is likely to be seen as a major strategic victory for Australia as it works with China Consolidate its influence in the Pacific region.
The treaty also requires Australia to defend Tuvalu in the face of natural disasters, epidemics and “military aggression”.
It also gives Australia a say in any defence agreements Tuvalu signs with other countries.
When neighboring countries solomon islands The South China Sea islands have a defense agreement with Beijing that allows China to deploy troops on the islands.
“Obviously this is a groundbreaking agreement,” Albanese told reporters on the sidelines of the Pacific Islands Forum in the Cook Islands.
“Australia’s alliance with Tuvalu will be seen as a significant day for Australia to recognise that we are part of the Pacific family.”
Australia’s economic reliance on coal and gas exports has long been a point of friction with many of its Pacific neighbours, which face huge economic and social costs from severe weather and rising sea levels.
Albanese said that because developing countries bear the brunt of the climate crisis, developed countries need to start taking more responsibility.
The agreement must be ratified by all countries before it can take effect.
(AFP)
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