Two Meals

The Pacific islands will face food shortages and drinking water will be impacted by rising seas, scientists said Wednesday, as a UN report found the world would fail to limit global warming to 1.5C. The UNEP report projected global temperature rise will peak at 1.8C above pre-industrial levels, overshooting the Paris Agreement goal.

Scientists told a summit of Pacific leaders in Palau that the impact of overshooting that target will be a $90 million loss in fishing licence fees, or 13 percent of government revenue in the region, causing an "economic crisis". Tuna will migrate east, away from island states where a third of the world's tuna is caught, said Andrew Jones, deputy director general of The Pacific Community.

65 percent of catch lost

Coastal fishers that feed island people will lose 65 percent of their catch. "That's about two meals per family per week that is not on the plate, of clean, free healthy protein that will need to be replaced," Jones said. Devastating floods will increase, and salt water will inundate drinking water, reducing the ability to live on islands.

Vanuatu's climate change minister urged countries such as Australia, the largest member of the Pacific regional bloc and a major exporter of coal and gas, to stop expanding its fossil fuel exports. "Australia is not doing enough. Australia is a major producer of fossil fuels, we all know fossil fuels are the primary driver of the crisis," he told reporters.