New Zealand creates special refugee visa for Pacific islanders affected by climate change
- By Jonathan Pearlman
- Dec 18, 2017
- 1 min read
With ocean levels rising in recent decades due to the warming planet, one of the most direct effects has been on the residents of low-lying Pacific nations where coasts have been subsiding and some islands have disappeared.
The result is a looming wave of "climate refugees" who are set to present a new migration problem to the region.
As some Pacific countries prepare to relocate entire communities, New Zealand's newly-elected Labor-led coalition government has become the first country in the world to introduce a climate refugee scheme.
photo credit: Stuck in Customs
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