The Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has launched the world's first relocation fund for people displaced by climate change.
He announced Fiji's Climate Relocation and Displaced Peoples Trust Fund for Communities and Infrastructure in New York, where he is attending the UN General Assembly.
"We are seed funding the Trust Fund through a percentage of the revenue from our Environment and Climate Adaptation Levy," he said.
"Based on current projections, the annual allocation will be approximately $US5 million dollars a year. But this is not enough. We look forward to additional support to undertake this enormous task."
Mr Bainimarama said Fiji was being forced to deal with the burden of climate change even though it was not responsible for causing it. He said entire communities were already being moved away from rising seas that had flooded their homes and ruined their farm land.
"For a country like ours with limited means and a young population, dealing with this challenge - which has been caused through no fault of our own - has become an increasing burden.
"That burden seems certain to worsen as the impacts of climate change become more intense - not only the rising seas and the impacts on our agricultural practices but also the extreme weather events that pose an ever present and worsening danger to our people and our infrastructure.
"We can't wait for communities to be drowned out by the encroaching tides. We need a holistic approach, we need adequate resources and we need it now."
Source: PMN News