Citizens Climate Campaign - Take Action Now - Rising Tides Drown All Coastlines

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Citizens Climate Campaign	Take Action Now
Rising Tides Drown All Coastlines	Bondi Beach Apartments

The sea level report in the recently-released NSW climate change plan says rising sea water and increased storms will affect "virtually all aspects of occupation on low-lying coastal areas".

(Sydney Morning Herald 24.5.08)

Governments are planning for rises of up to a metre by the end of this century. That would flood tens of thousands of properties along Australia's east coast. (SMH 28.5.08)

Extreme high tides now experienced once a decade would occur 50 times a year by 2050. (SMH 28.5.08)

However, people in the Carteret Islands of Papua New Guinea are already being evacuated because of rising sea levels and salt contamination of their water and crops, and the Pacific Island nations of Tuvalu and Kiribati are starting to disappear.

"We are victims of something that we are not responsible for"
says Bernard Galie, resident of Carteret Islands.

Prior to the recent Federal elections, the ALP released a Policy Discussion Paper on Climate Change in the Pacific titled Our Drowning Neighbours.

It proposed a strategy with 2 key themes:

Australia must help our Pacific neighbours to meet the challenge of climate change

Australia must also do its part locally and globally to combat climate change

Here is a copy of

Our
Drowning
Neighbours

NB.This is a 3MB PDF

The United Nations High Commission on Refugees warns that without urgent action there will be 200 million to 1 billion climate refugees by 2050. At present there is no legal recognition in Australia, or internationally, for these climate refugees.

Our Drowning Neighbours proposed a road map of next steps (see Chapter 3 of the Report) for the implementation of their policy which included working with international partners to develop a coalition to accept climate change refugees from the Pacific, and working at the UN to ensure that climate change refugees are appropriately recognised in international conventions.

Send a message to the Prime Minister, the Hon. Kevin Rudd.

However you cannot email him, you will need to go to his website and fill out a form.

Click here to go to the Prime Minister's website. Then fill-out the form and cut-and-paste the message below.

You could also send a message to -

Senator the Hon Chris Evans, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, and to
the Hon Duncan Kerr SC, MP Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs.

These are also forms.

Including comments of your own would show your personal concern about this issue, and would make it look different from the hundreds of others we hope will be sent.

I am very concerned about the impact of rising sea levels, due to climate change, on coastal communities in Australia.

However, I would like to bring to your government's attention the dire situation of many Pacific Islanders whose homes, land and livelihood are already being threatened or destroyed by inundation.

Prior to the recent Federal elections, the ALP released an encouraging Policy Discussion Paper on Climate Change in the Pacific titled Our Drowning Neighbours. It proposed a strategy whereby Australia would help its Pacific neighbours to meet the challenge of climate change, and do its part locally and globally to combat climate change.

I would like to see Australia show leadership on this pressing human rights issue on our doorstep. A commitment to accepting climate refugees in Australia would in no way preclude action at the international level. In fact, Australia would be demonstrating its willingness to behave as a global citizen by taking the lead in establishing policy which responds to the protection of human rights.

Following this, Australia could work towards the establishment of an international coalition.

What is the current position of the Government regarding financial assistance to our Pacific neighbours who are suffering the ill-effects of climate change?

What is being done to facilitate the acceptance of climate refugees from the Pacific into Australia?

I urge your government to take the next step in responding to the needs of our Pacific Island neighbours by establishing policies to assist and/or accept those displaced by the impacts of climate change.

(your name)

Regards from the Citizens Climate Campaign Committee