A man from a tiny South Pacific island has asked a court in New Zealand to recognise him and his family as climate change refugees, saying they face “serious harm” if they return.
Ioane Teitiota, 37, has applied for refuge from Kiribati, the world’s lowest-lying nation whose 33 small islands are highly vulnerable to rising sea levels. Scientists say the nation is one of the countries likely to be hardest hit by global warming – and its own president has urged its citizens to leave.
Man from Kiribati seeks recognition as world’s first climate refugee
Kiribati man Ioane Teitiota, asks court to recognise him and his family as climate change refugees
by Jonathan Pearlman
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/kiribati/10383018/Man-from-Kiribati-seeks-recognition-as-worlds-first-climate-refugee.html
Mr Teitiota, who has lived in New Zealand for six years and has three children born there, told the New Zealand High Court that there was no land to which his family could safely return. Kiribati, which has a population of about 100,000 and was part of former British colony the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, has an average height of 6.5 feet above sea level.
“There’s no future for us when we go back to Kiribati,” he told a tribunal. “Especially for my children. There’s nothing for us there.”
Mr Teitiota has appealed against an earlier tribunal decision which found his case was genuine, but did not fit the legal criteria for recognition as a refugee – such as fear of persecution or threats to his life. It is believed that if his appeal is successful he would become the world’s first climate refugee.