Carteret Islanders Arrive In Papua As Newest Climate Refugees - Atolls Uninhabitable By 2015 - AFP

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The ocean is rising. Salt water has eaten up the shoreline and invaded the gardens. For many, it’s time to pack up and go … but without help from the government, hundreds are stuck on this sinking atoll.

Paul Tsube is one of the few who managed to leave early. He didn’t wait for government assistance to migrate. He now lives in Buka, in North Bougainville, where he feels he finally has a future. But leaving his past behind wasn’t easy. "It’s a saddening thing to do, he says with regret. It’s very very sad to leave my parent’s grave, my grandparents grave. it’s not easy to leave a place where you were born.

For years he’s watched his homeland go to waste and, at times, his people go hungry. “There are no longer bread fruit trees, banana trees, swampy taro there’s hardly anything that you would grow out there, he laments.”

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Despite their good will, local authorities have been helpless. “the land ownership is bit difficult here, explains thenewly elected president of Bougainville, James Tanis. it is communally owned … you may reach an agreement with this chief, he sayas you settled them there and the next day you have his nephew who says no I don’t agree with this.” Churches and NGOs have taken it upon themselves to find a solution. But money is scarce and progress is slow. The plight of the Carteret has so far failed to make waves.

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http://www.france24.com/en/20090315-world-first-climate-change-refugees-papua-new-guinea-carteret-islands%20