The Unmet and Underfunded report by Oxfam Australia has found that Australia is lagging behind other developed nations in its contribution to international climate finance and is underfunding its Pacific neighbours.
Despite other countries increasing their climate finance funding at the Paris Climate Change Conference last year, the Australian Government – which currently contributes $200m per year, has failed to do so and Oxfam Australia is calling for the government to commit to a funding target of $3.2b by 2020.
Oxfam Australia’s Climate Change Advisor Simon Bradshaw says that despite the efforts of countries in the pacific, some low lying nations may face displacement.
Mr Bradshaw also says that like Australia’s pacific neighbours, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are also being disproportionately affected by climate change.
Located in the central Pacific, the small atoll nation of Kiribati is already feeling the effects of climate change.
Wanita Limpus is the former secretary of the Kiribati Australian Association and returned to visit the island last year.
Ms Limpus says that the nation is already dealing with water contamination and crop failure, she also fears her family may have to emigrate from the island.
Ms Limpus says that developed nations who contribute to climate change should be helping smaller countries.
(FEATURE IMAGE: Flickr, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade)
