Climate crisis: This Pacific island nation is relocating villages over threat from rising seas

Climate Change Minister of Vanuatu, Ralph Regenvanu, on Thursday said as a response to a threat arising out of rising sea levels, the country has decided to draw up plans to relocate around “dozens of villages” – that inhabit long-established communities – within the next two years.

“Dealing with the impact of global warming was a major challenge facing Vanuatu’s 300,000 inhabitants who live on a chain of islands strung out between Australia and Fiji,” Regenvanu was quoted as saying by the news agency AFP.

The step is believed to be taken to avert climate-triggered adversaries in low-lying Pacific island nations like Vanuatu.

The major population of Vanuatu was impacted after Cyclone Pam whipped across the capital Port Vila in 2015, claiming lives. The cyclone affected crops and left thousands homeless.

Vanuatu is ranked as one of the countries most susceptible to natural disasters like earthquakes, storm damage, flooding and tsunamis, according to the annual World Risk Report, reported the AFP.

Representing Vanuatu, Regenvanu attended the UN’s COP27 summit in Egypt last month and inked an imperative deal to assist vulnerable countries in dealing with the adversaries of climate change through an appropriate fund.

There is a consensus – among the countries concerned about climate change – to keep the global limit well within the ambit of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

However, Regenavu said the limit was insufficient to deal with the current climate catastrophe.