Pacific Islanders adapt to climate change rather than become 'refugees'

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Pacific Islanders adapt to climate change rather than become 'refugees'

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The sea is slowly swallowing Josephine Lagi's home. Her family has lived in the Solomon Islands for generations - watching as their island falls to the whim of a changing climate . The rising seas are stealing their beaches and threatening life as they know it. Everything is changing for the worse, but they're adapting. READ MORE: * Full coverage: guest editor Mia Sutherland's stories * Humanitarian visa proposed for climate change refugees dead in the water * 'Looking after family': Our aid efforts for our Pacific neighbours * Government considering experimental climate change visa * Study: Pacific youth more at risk of suicide than any other group * Editorial: Kiribati might one day become a nation of refugees Lagi and her family are among many Pacific Islanders who are choosing to "mitigate and adapt" to the effects of climate change rather than flee. They're building sea walls to combat the rising sea levels because leaving their small island home would be "the final resort". "This is the birth place of our ancestors and our forefathers and is being handed down from generations. And so moving away from home would be a challenge." She explained her parents have seen the most consistent, threatening changes. But since moving to Wellington to complete her studies, the landscape she sees upon her return home every year is a vast contrast to the memories from her youth. "[From] when I was little... the structure of the coastline is quite different to now when we go back home." If the time comes and they're forced to leave their increasingly uninhabitable home, at least they'll know they did all they could to try and mend their island broken by climate change. In recent years, a number of Pacific Islanders have been overwhelmed by the effects on their homes in Kiribati and Tuvalu and sought refuge in New Zealand on the basis of climate change. However, the 2015 and 2017 cases , which gained global attention, were all denied . Though commonly used, the notion of 'climate refugees' isn't deemed an appropriate or accurate term for those forced to leave their homes due to the effects of climate change. "They might be described as 'climate displaced' people, or 'climate migrants', but not 'refugees'," according to Vernon Rive, an environmental lecturer from Auckland University of Technology. Dr Darren Brunk , a humanitarian specialist from Oxfam New Zealand , described using the term 'refugee' for this situation as fitting "the very round peg of climate migration into the square hole of the Refugee Convention". While Lagi herself doesn't find issue with the term, she understands the connotations usually associated with it, and explained society's reaction to refugees may influence islanders' opinions of it. "Being referred to as a climate refugee is okay, but just be considerate of the situation, some people may or may not want to be referred that way," she said. Rive believes the rejection of the term revolves around many islanders not wanting to be seen as victims, instead they would prefer to be viewed as "people wishing to retain a strong sense of self-determination, agency and sovereignty over their home lands and waters". This sense of self-determination is reflected by many communities' drive to adapt. Dr Brunk has witnessed the adaptation efforts in various parts of the Pacific. He explained: "They want us here in New Zealand to know that they don't want us talking about this through the refugee lense, but through an adaptation lense." But if the effects of climate change worsen, simply adapting won't be a viable option. Rive believes "internal displacement or internal relocation" might be the solution for "the short [to] medium term". He explained, this type of relocation could be made available to "some countries in the Pacific with higher land, but probably not... available for all Pacific nations (notably, Kiribati and Tuvalu)." Though not ideal, Lagi understands the need to relocate in the event of a climate emergency. "We [might] have no choice but to move out and seek refuge elsewhere." If that is the case, she hopes there will be laws protecting Pacific Islanders living in other countries.