(MENAFN- The Conversation) There's a lot at stake over the next fortnight as nations gather at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt. But the stakes are perhaps highest for the Pacific islands and their people.
A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last year said global warming above 1.5℃ would be“” for Pacific island nations. Sea-level rise could lead to the loss of entire Pacific countries this century.
Such damage is a fundamental threat to the human rights of Pacific populations who, as one reminds us, are not merely“victims” of climate change, but“real people with dignity and dreams for the future”.
We have been conducting research for the Vanuatu government into how climate change is affecting the human rights of the nation's highly exposed population. We've heard stories of loss and resilience from those whose lives and traditions are being ripped apart by this global catastrophe.
Climate change is a fundamental threat to the human rights of people in Vanuatu. Shutterstock Facing climate change on an island nation
Vanuatu has a of about 315,000 people, who live across and many smaller islands.
Like other Pacific island nations, Vanuatu is highly exposed to climate change effects such as sea-level rise, coral bleaching and extreme tropical cyclones. In fact, the sea level around Vanuatu has risen by around 6mm per year since 1993, a rate nearly
Vanuatu is seeking an“advisory opinion” from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to clarify the rights and obligations of states under international law in relation to harms from climate change. A majority of UN member states must agree to this opinion being provided. If Vanuatu succeeds, it could have extensive legal implications at a global, regional and national level.
We undertook research for the Vanuatu government as part of this legal push. It involved a nation-wide survey to explore how locals in Vanuatu experience climate change and how it impinges on their human rights.
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A boy and his dog survey the chaos after Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu in 2015. The island nation is in line for more extreme weather under climate change. World Animal Protection/NICKY KAUATONGA 'This is a cultural right'
The study involved an online survey administered in Vanuatu's national language, Bislama, as well as English and French. Some 118 people completed the survey between June and October this year. The results have been finalised and the Vanuatu government for use at COP27.
Participants ranged in age from 18 to 76. They told of witnessing general climate change impacts such as intense cyclones, droughts, flooding and coastal inundation.
They also told of decimation and loss of Indigenous knowledge around weather, seasons and medicines, as well as physical damage to traditional crops.
Many Vanuatu traditions centre around the yam harvest. Shutterstock One crop of particular concern was the yam – a starchy, edible root central to the identity of many people native to Vanuatu.
Locals mark the yam harvest with rituals and ceremonies. However, climate change is disrupting these cultural rhythms. As one participant told us, altered weather patterns had led to failed germination, a higher prevalence of disease and root rot, and lower yields:
Traditional medicines are similarly being lost at an alarming rate and are impinging on the health and wellbeing of local people.
One participant told how children learnt from an early age to be self-sufficient – growing their own food, fishing on the reef and collecting crabs after school. The participant went on:
The participant expressed fears that knowledge passed on by grandparents to younger generations about natural resource management would“die with my generation”:
Traditional knowledge in Vanuatu is handed down between generations. Margaret Scheikowski/AAP What this means for COP27
The stories we gathered during our research make one thing clear: climate change is real, it's impinging on the human rights of people in Vanuatu, and will continue to do so in future.
Among the big issues to be discussed at this year's COP27 conference is“loss and damage” compensation. This refers to the money that richer nations should pay to developing nations for the economic, socio-cultural, environmental and physical costs brought by climate change.
As our research shows, those costs are already being borne. Developed nations have a moral obligation to make sure people in developing countries, who've contributed so little to climate change, do not continue to suffer in a warming world. That includes providing access to appropriate remedies and ways to adapt.
The authors would like to acknowledge and thank Stephanie Stephens, George Koran and Willy Missack from the Vanuatu Climate Action Network for their support and collaboration on this research.
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