The Prime Minister of Tuvalu Enele Sopoaga and the President of Kiribati Anote Tong have met in Tuvalu's capital to call for a strong and effective climate change agreement in Paris at the end of the year.
Mr Sopoaga says this if the Paris talks fail, they will fail the people of Tuvalu and the people of Kiribati.
Tuvalu's Prime Minister, Enele Sopoaga Photo: RNZI / Jamie Tahana
He says there is a need for a strong and effective legally binding climate change agreement that creates a greenhouse gas limitation.
Mr Sopoaga says the Paris Agreement must also include a mechanism to address the process of rehabilitation after the impacts of climate change.
Mr Tong says there is an imminent danger that a significant proportion of the population of Kiribati will have to look for somewhere else to live.
Kiribati President Anote Tong. Photo: RNZI / Koro Vaka'uta
He says the Paris Agreement must deliver strong commitments by all countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to decarbonise the economies by the middle of this century.
As a first step in this decarbonisation pathway he has joined others in calling for a moratorium on all new coal mines.