$2m for relocating villages
New Zealand will spend $2 million to help Fiji work out how to relocate villages threatened by climate change.
The money will go to the Fiji Trust for research into how to relocate 42 separate communities which have asked the Fijian Government for help moving to escape problems like flooding and sea-level rise brought on by climate change, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced.
It comes from an alreadyannounced $150m package for Pacific climate help.
Ardern announced the spending in a speech to the University of the South Pacific in Suva yesterday afternoon, in the middle of a three-day trip to Fiji.
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 is important we support those who contributed the least to rising sea levels and extreme weather but who are 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 is exactly what is happening here in Fiji,’’ Ardern said. ‘‘With five community relocations under way or completed in Fiji and a further 40 identified, this is an issue for the here and now.’’
New Zealand’s Government is hopeful other countries will match and exceed its investment.
Also announced was a $3m investment in the ‘‘Rise’’ project in Fiji, an Australian initiative to improve sanitation and other issues in informal settlements in the Pacific. Ardern visited the village of Tamavua-i-Wai yesterday where she told villagers 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
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
noted that the region had seen new interest from ‘‘superpowers’’ – an oblique reference to China, which has made many investments in the region in a bid to increase its influence.
‘‘Our region is no longer a place of blue ocean but strategically important,’’ Ardern said.
Ardern flies to Sydney today for a 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 would not get much done.
‘‘Fiji is on the front line of the battle against climate change.’’