Sailosi Ramatu, from the first village in Fiji to relocate as a result of climate change. Photo: RNZI
Attendees at a health conference in Nadi have heard a first-hand account of a community in Fiji forced to relocate as a result of climate change.
The entire population of Vunidogoloa village in Cakaudrove relocated in January last year, about 2.5 kilometres inland after rising sea levels eroded much of their land.
The village headman Sailosi Ramatu told a health and climate change conference about the stress of uprooting 154 people.
"To relocate we have to relocate three things; we relocate the people, we relocate the church, and we relocate the government essentials within the village. All this needs funding and to relocate is a last option because it's like forcing us to move from where we were born."
Sailosi Ramatu, from the first village in Fiji to relocate as a result of climate change.
Over the coming decade the Fiji government intends to move more of its affected villages and has offered to help resettlement from other low-lying Pacific nations.