In low-lying nations of Oceania people are already dying of climate change, report says
While the rest of the world wakes up to the climate emergency, people in Oceania have been living it "for decades", a new report says. In low-lying nations such as Tonga, Samoa, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, many have already died from climate-related extremes. Caritas Oceania director Julianne Hickey said there was nowhere near enough global awareness of climate change's impact on Oceania. "Unless urgent action is taken now, at all levels of society and government, in a decade we are more likely to see increased levels of malnutrition, climate migration and injury and death from extreme weather events." READ MORE: * Crunching climate change strike's numbers * Greta is 'voice of a generation' * In photos: Climate change strike * Young strikers 'on the right side of history' Oceania's small population and smaller-sized states meant it was overlooked, Hickey said. "So many international reports lump Asia-Pacific together. Of course, we hope for more - the implications of climate change are huge," she said. "Climate finance is not reaching those who need it most, either to mitigate or adapt." Many states in Oceania were low-lying, without large protective infrastructure, and Hickey said it placed them "on the front lines" when disaster struck. "Many people have died and many suffer because the rich and powerful have not heard and responded quickly enough to the cry of the earth and the poor, nor heeded the warnings of scientists," the Caritas report says. "Now that more of the global community are waking up to reality, we risk prioritising infrastructure over people, and adaptation for the rich rather than the poor." A Caritas spokeswoman said in the Enga province a landslide killed eight people, including five children, and a further four children were missing. The 2019 report ranks extreme weather for this year as "severe" and says the impact on food and water is high. In 2018 Super Cyclone Yutu struck the US territory of Northern Mariana Islands in Micronesia, killed two people, carried away corrugated metal from houses, and uprooted large trees. "Heavy rain events caused multiple deaths in Papua New Guinea, Soloman Islands and Australia," the report says. "Thousands of people were affected by displacement or food shortage. Many of these events were out of season or out of place." Australia had its hottest ever summer and New Zealand its second hottest. Coastal erosion, coastal flooding and sea level rise is rated as "high", with king tide flooding, coastal encroachment and sea wall breaches "a part of daily life", the report says. In Kiribati, coastal erosion has clawed back 20 metres of shore footage. "The loss of coconuts, pandanus and fruit means they have to buy those now." Offshore mining is also destroying food sources and livelihoods in Fiji, according to Caritas Fiji's Kositatino Tikomaibolatagane cited in the report. "The waste from the mining is put back in the sea. It is changing a clear blue ocean to a brown black one, which will pollute the sea and reef nearby, killing protein sources."