An international conference focusing on international policy issues and ethical challenges surrounding climate change and migration in the South Pacific Region, including human rights issues, will open on 9 July in Wellington.

The two-day event, organized by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Victoria University of Wellington, will bring together international experts and policy makers from the South Pacific region.

"The aim of this conference is to bring a broad, multi-disciplinary approach to the issue," says IPS Director Jonathan Boston. "We will examine the potential drivers of regional migration in a climate-change affected world, its potential impacts and possible policy responses."

Low-lying island states within the South Pacific region are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, with countries like Kiribati and Tuvalu particularly vulnerable to changing precipitation patterns, tropical cyclones and coastal inundation from rising sea levels.

"Some islands, such as the Carteret Islands off the coast of Bougainville, are already in the process of being evacuated with rising sea levels a contributing factor," says IPS Director Jonathan Boston. "Climate change poses major domestic and international policy challenges, yet it has received relatively little attention amongst policy makers."

The keynote address will be delivered by IOM's Philippe Boncour who will focus on current policies and some key challenges, including how best the international community may manage environmentally induced migration. 

In 2008 alone, the region experienced natural disasters of a kind likely to be exacerbated by climate change. Just as one example, a devastating tropical cyclone (Gene) resulted in substantial damage to agriculture, infrastructure and utilities in Fiji, requiring its government to provide FJ$1.7 million worth of food rations.

Experts gathered in Wellington will try to look at the issues at stake from a comprehensive perspective and to provide some recommendations to policy makers.

For further information, please contact:

Bruce Burson
Tel: + country code 021 771 657
E-mail: bruceburson@hotmail.com