Climate Change Impact and Structural Reforms in Kiribati
KIRIBATI
coastal erosion.³ Physical infrastructure of roads, runways, causeways, bridges, ports, berths, and
public buildings have been reconstructed and rehabilitated to be more resilient to the negative
effects of climate change. In parallel, efforts were made to monitor the ecosystem, enhance food
security through agriculture training programs, and strenthen community awareness of healthy
lifestyles (nutrition, sports and exercise, sanitation, and hygiene), environment protection, and
climate change and disaster risks management. With the new Environment Act of 2021 focusing on
5 areas, including climate change and environmental data and spatial planning, further progress may
be achieved provided that regulations, including effective and efficient enforcement and
implementation, are put in place in a timely manner.
11. Labor mobility is one of the climate adaptation areas under the government focus. The
risks of permanent inundation is recognized as a key long-term challenge by the Government of
Kiribati (GoK, 2014). The 2015 Kiribati Household Survey revealed that 94 percent of households had
been impacted by natural hazards within the 10 years preceding the survey, 75 percent of
households saw the need of migration for one
Number of Oversea Workers
(Persons)
600
-SWP
―RSE
-PLS
-Sealord
500
400
300
200
100
0
or more family members if sea levels
continued to rise, and climate change was the
second main reason of migration after work
(Voigt-Graf and Kagan, 2017).4 Migration
from outer islands to Tarawa, partially due to
climate impact and poor infrastructure, results
in high population density and
unemployment in the main island. As such,
labor migration serves as an important
strategy for temporary migration and job
creation in response to both rapidly growing
population and climate change threats to livelihoods and job security at home while also help
generate remittances. Efforts have been made to increase the number and size of labor schemes,
mainly with New Zealand and Australia (text chart).5 If carefully designed to prevent brain-drain
impact of skilled workers, these policies could be beneficial by reducing unemployment and
providing I-Kiribati with better opportunities abroad.
2022
Source: Kiribati Ministry of Employment and Human Resources.
Note: Pacific Labor Scheme (PLS) and Seasonal Worker Program (SWP) are with
Australia; Recognized Seasonal Employer (RSE) and Sealord are with New Zealand.
12. The country also works on environmental data to improve climate forecasts. Access to
credible and up-to-date environmental data is often very limited in Kiribati, creating sustaintial data
3
Mangroves, along with seagrass, can also help mitigate part of the greenhouse gas emissions as they serve as a
carbon sink.
4 The survey also revealed that 9 percent of people reported to have attempted to migrate but failed, and only
1.3 percent of people had migrated for more than 3 months in the past 10 years.
5 The Government of New Zealand has recently raised the cap on their Recognized Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme
by about 3,000 workers for the 2022/23 season for all Pacific Islands, a significant increase from the 16,000 workers in
the previous year. Kiribati also has the Pacific Access Category, a permanent visa scheme with New Zealand with an
annual cap of 75 slots. In October 2022, the Government of Australia launched the Pacific Engagement Visa to
provide permanent migration to allow up to 3,000 individuals from Pacific countries to Australia. The Pacific Australia
Labor Mobility (PALM) scheme is also being reformed and will subsume pre-existing visa schemes.
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