Climate change: NZ pumps $2m into helping Fijian villages relocate
New Zealand will spend $2m to help Fiji work out how to relocate tens of villages threatened by climate change, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced. The money will go to the Fiji Trust for research into how to relocate 42 separate communities who have asked the Fijian government for help moving to escape problems like flooding and sea-level rise brought on by climate change. It comes from an already-announced $150m package for Pacific climate help Ardern announced the spending in a speech to the University of the South Pacific in Suva on Wednesday afternoon, in the middle of a three-day trip to Fiji. READ MORE: * Why climate change should be on the agenda for Jacinda Ardern's meeting with Scott Morrison * Fijian PM wants Jacinda Ardern to keep climate pressure on other countries ahead of Australia visit * Fiji lays out lavish welcome for Jacinda Ardern's first visit * Alan Jones' contract will be torn up if he repeats Ardern comments, employer says She said Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama had directly asked her for help with the project and she was proud to be the first country to do so. "Fiji is on the front line of the battle against climate change. It's important we support those who contributed the least to rising sea levels and extreme weather but who're experiencing it the most to resettle their communities in safer places. "While we must do all we can to mitigate and prevent the full frontal assault of climate change we must also prepare, and that's exactly what's happening here in Fiji," Ardern said. "With five community relocations under way or completed in Fiji and a further forty identified, this is an issue for the here and now." New Zealand's government is hopeful that other countries will match and exceed its investment. The Government also announced a $3m investment in the "RISE" project in Fiji, an Australian initiative which aims to improve sanitisation and other issues in informal settlements in the Pacific. Ardern visited the village of Tamavua-i-Wai on Wednesday where she told villagers that New Zealand prospered when its neighbours did. "New Zealand does well when Fiji does well. New Zealand does well when Samoa does well," Ardern said. Her speech to the University noted that the region has seen new interest from "superpowers" - an oblique reference to China, which has made many investments in the region in a bid to up its influence. "Our region is no longer a place of blue ocean, but strategically important," Ardern said. Ardern flies to Sydney on Thursday for bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. She is not planning on bringing up Australia's climate change policies, saying "wagging her finger" at Morrison wouldn't get much done.