We don’t want to be environmental refugees!

“We don’t want to be environmental refugees!” – this is a clear and laud message from people of Kiribati and one of the most emotional on the third day of COP15. Kiribati – remember this name. It is a small islands country in the Pacific ocean, the first one to suffer very big and obvious consequences in the “front line” of climate changes. The first one to disappear if we don’t do anything! 30 000 people are living on these islands, which are just 2 meters above the see level and approximately 20-30 kilometers wide. So where can people of Kiribati go if the water level rises? Away from the coastline? But their land is a coastline! First climate changes are already evident in Kiribati. They are facing loss of drinking water, stronger and more frequent winds coming from a different side than they used to, erosion of the shore… In the next 50 years people of Kiribati may be left with no good life conditions and without most part of their land. But they are not the only one! The other small island countries stand next to them! It is a sad picture on COP15. On one side there are representatives of the most vulnerable countries, facing hunger, thirst and extinction, who are asking for legal bindings and begging for immediate actions and representatives of developed and developing countries, who are led by hunger for power and material well being. So how can we talk about negotiations when survival is not negotiable!? This is one of the sentences that has been said many times during last week in Bella Center but will it be really heard from the right people? By the way things have been going on so far it is unlikely that we will get positive question until the end of this COP. But this is not an end. We have to do our best to live “climate-friendly” and to keep pushing world leaders until they realize responsibilities they have.

So if they can not do the changes we can!