HONIARA (Pacnews) — Australia’s opposition Labor Party has called on the federal government to allocate more money in its forthcoming budget to help nations in the Pacific region deal with the forecasted impact of climate change.
Opposition climate change spokesman Peter Garrett said the aid budget for the Pacific is too heavily focused on other areas such as governance and business development.
Garrett said that while these areas need attention, the situation for low-lying states in the Pacific was dire with rising sea levels already having forced some people to flee their homes and contemplate leaving some islands altogether.
He said the Australian Government has allocated nearly A$3 billion ($2.4 billion ) to its aid program but said too little of that was earmarked to address climate change:
“It’s an extraordinary imbalance when you consider the nation-threatening conditions that these low-lying island states are now facing as a consequence of climate change,” he said.