Re Katepu
COURT OR TRIBUNAL
New Zealand Immigration and Protection Tribunal
DATE FILED (OR FIRST HEARING DATE)
13/04/2023
LITIGATION TYPE
Project Approval - Mitigation
SUBJECT MATTER
Airport
REVIEW TYPE
Merits review
SUMMARY
The Tribunal considered the impacts of climate change when undertaking their assessment of the appellant’s circumstances. See, for example, the below extract from the judgment:
[38] The Tribunal has also recently acknowledged how Tuvalu’s population has “adapted to living in a dynamic ecosystem” and that climate change is likely to continue to pose new threats and place stress on livelihoods, and recorded that the community is “likely to need support to adapt and manage disaster risks facing their wellbeing, livelihoods, and infrastructure”; see AV (Tuvalu) [2022] NZIPT 505532.
[39] This picture conveys that the appellant would be returning to challenging socioeconomic conditions in Tuvalu. He would likely face food supply and poor sanitation issues, challenges to find housing and possible unemployment.
[40] The appellant also fears the impact of climate change, and the Tribunal recognises that the country’s small geographical size and remoteness exacerbates its exposure to climate change and natural disasters. Climate change impacts on Tuvalu include rising air temperature, more intense and frequent storm surges and decreasing rainfall, as well as total inundation of low-lying coastal parts of Funafuti. The government, together with development partners, have signalled commitment to adaptation measures to respond to and manage climate change impacts […]
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