Latest news with #risingseas
NHK
18-07-2025
- NHK
Australia opens door to drowning nation
Threatened by rising seas, half the residents of the South Pacific island of Tuvalu apply for visas that would let them live in Australia.
NHK
18-07-2025
- Politics
- NHK
Half of Tuvalu citizens apply to migrate to Australia amid rising seas
Citizens of the South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu are increasingly fearful that the country could be submerged by rising seas in the coming years. As a result, fully half the population has applied for visas that would allow them to live in Australia. This comes after the two governments signed a treaty in 2023 over migration and security. It allows up to 280 people a year to come to Australia, chosen randomly by ballot. The initial application process for next year closed on Friday. Australia's government says it received over 5,000 applications, about half of Tuvalu's population. The final selection for people to get permanent residency will be made by lottery through January next year. The chosen individuals will have the right to work and receive education and medical care in Australia. Most of the territory of Tuvalu's archipelago is less than two meters above sea level. The United Nations estimates that by the year 2100, 95 percent, including the capital, could be underwater at high tide. Australia has been strengthening ties with Tuvalu as China expands its influence in the Pacific. Tuvalu is one of the few nations that still recognize Taiwan. Under the treaty with Australia, Tuvalu must consult Canberra before signing security agreements with other countries.
France 24
15-07-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Indigenous Australians lose landmark climate court case against government
Scattered through the warm waters off Australia's northernmost tip, the sparsely populated Torres Strait Islands are threatened by seas rising much faster than the global average. Torres Strait elders have spent the past four years fighting through the courts to prove the government failed to protect them through meaningful climate action. Australia's Federal Court found the government was not obliged to shield the Torres Strait Islands from climate change. "I thought that the decision would be in our favour, and I'm in shock," said Torres Strait Islander Paul Kabai, who helped to bring the case. "What do any of us say to our families now?" Fellow plaintiff Pabai Pabai said: "My heart is broken for my family and my community." Federal Court Justice Michael Wigney criticised the government for setting emissions targets between 2015 and 2021 that failed to consider the "best available science". But these targets would have had little impact on global temperature rise, he found. "Any additional greenhouse gases that might have been released by Australia as a result of low emissions targets would have caused no more than an almost immeasurable increase in global average temperatures," Wigney said. Australia's previous conservative government sought to cut emissions by around 26 percent before 2030. The incumbent left-leaning government in 2022 adopted new plans to slash emissions by 40 percent before the end of the decade, and reach net zero by 2050. 'Climate refugees' Fewer than 5,000 people live in the Torres Strait, a collection of about 274 mud islands and coral cays wedged between Australia's mainland and Papua New Guinea. Lawyers for traditional land owners from Boigu and Saibai -- among the worst-impacted islands -- asked the court to order the government "to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a level that will prevent Torres Strait Islanders from becoming climate refugees". Sea levels in some parts of the archipelago are rising almost three times faster than the global average, according to official figures. Rising tides have washed away graves, eaten through huge chunks of exposed coastline, and poisoned once-fertile soils with salt. The lawsuit argued some islands would soon become uninhabitable if global temperatures rose more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The World Meteorological Organization has warned this threshold could be breached before the end of the decade. While Australia's emissions pale in comparison to the likes of China and the United States, the fossil fuel powerhouse is one of the largest coal exporters in the world.
