Kiribati asks for help in climate change battle
Updated
Kiribati president, Anote Tong, has asked Australia for help in the battle against rising seas that threaten to wipe out his Pacific nation.
He was in Canberra at the weekend and met with the climate change minister, Penny Wong, as well as leading climate scientists.
The chain of 33 islands straddling the equator and home to 90,000 people was swamped three years ago by high tides that washed away farmland and flooded homes.
Our reporter, Lynette Hyslop, says Mr Tong was in Australia to discuss how long his country might have before Kiribati vanishes completely.
He is asking larger nations, Australia and New Zealand, to open their doors to Kiribati citizens who might become, along with people living in the Maldives and other Pacific islands, the world's first climate refugees.
President Tong says the fishing-reliant country could be totally submerged within a century, under the worst current predictions.
Ms Wong says Australia wants to help with urgent and coordinated world action.
