No Person Is An Island

The people of the South Pacific are uniquely threatened by climate change

- Angelina Jolie

THE TECHNOLOGICAL SOPHISTICATION OF modern life masks a simple reality: we all need oxygen, water and food to survive. But the divide between those who have the resources they need to exist and those who don’t only continues to grow. And with the growing specter of climate change, people who live in vulnerable regions like Oceania—the countries and territories within the southwest Pacific Ocean—face the loss of their livelihoods, homes and future.

Twenty-four million people globally are displaced within their countries each year on average because of climate- and disaster-related causes, and it’s only getting worse: the likelihood of any of us being displaced in this way is twice what it was in the 1970s. This comes on top of unprecedented levels of forced displacement worldwide because of conflict and persecution.

If unchecked, climate change and environmental degradation have the potential to exacerbate global displacement beyond anything humanity has ever experienced, with lowincome countries and fragile states set to bear the brunt of the impact. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a rise in sea levels by 1 m could cause Bangladesh to lose an estimated 17.5% of its land. A similar rise in sea level could put 3 million people in northern Nigeria at risk of displacement. How are we preparing for this? Better still, how are we working to prevent it?