Climate displacement from the pacific islands of Tuvalu and Kiribati to Aotearoa New Zealand
Executive Summary
As the plane descends towards Tuvalu’s capital on Funafuti atoll, a thin strip of land emerges from the vast blue Pacific Ocean. Approximately 6,000 people live on Funafuti (around 60% of Tuvalu’s population). Tuvalu’s average elevation is less than 2m above sea level, with the country’s highest point being less than 5m above sea level. Its vulnerability to the external environment is immediately apparent.
Sam (not his real name) grew up in Funafuti. He helps his aunties to rear pigs and carries out errands on his motorcycle around the island. Sam was born with a disability but due to the country’s limited health care facilities, he has never received a proper diagnosis for his condition. Sam’s greatest fear is the sea because he cannot swim. His fears are not unfounded – in March 2024, a king tide of 3-4m washed over the island, flooding the roads and sweeping into peoples’ homes. Sam talked passionately about his desire to be reunited with family: “I really want to go to New Zealand… to see my parents. It’s been nine years”. Sam was separated from his parents when he was aged 21 and their family migrated to Aotearoa New Zealand. The country would not grant Sam a visa, due to his disability. Kiribati is also a low-lying atoll country in the Pacific. Around 136,000 people live on 20 out of the country’s 32 islands. Most of them are no more than 2-3m on average above sea level.
Teretia (not her real name), from Kiribati, left for Aotearoa New Zealand to assist her family. She described experiencing firsthand the impacts of climate change in Kiribati. She recalled the sea
entering her home, that she was sharing with “30-40 people squashed together”. At times, with “the sea coming closer and the wind being very strong” she was “thinking to put [her] little nephews inside buckets, in case the sea comes in.”
In Aotearoa New Zealand, she struggled after her application for a visa extension was declined. She lived in fear that authorities would deport her due to her irregular migration status.
For people living in the Pacific, coastal proximity increases the risk of exposure to the effects of human-induced climate change, particularly from rising sea levels, coastal erosion, king tides and
floods. As equatorial and tropical countries, these islands are more likely to suffer from extreme heat and increased droughts, as well as rapid-onset events such as cyclones, whose intensity and frequency are increased by climate change. Sea level rise constitutes an existential threat for low-lying islands that are projected to increasingly lose land to the encroaching ocean. Climate-driven impacts are compounded by exposure to other disasters such as tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. These create a relentless cycle of danger for already at-risk communities, that also
results in the displacement of individuals or groups.
The climate crisis threatens a host of human rights, including the right to life, health, an adequate standard of living and the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. As climate change
worsens existing social inequalities and increases economic hardship, many are forced to migrate, often without realizing the extent to which climate change is driving their displacement. States’ duty to protect people from the impacts of climate change – and therefore from being forcibly displaced from their homes – is widely recognized. In contrast, providing options for people impacted by the climate crisis to move across borders largely remains a subject of intense debate.
As climate change worsens existing social inequalities and increases economic hardship, many are forced to migrate, often without realizing the extent to which climate change is driving their displacement.
Many have sought opportunities to migrate elsewhere: Aotearoa New Zealand is home to the largest diaspora of Pacific Peoples. Among them are 4,653 Tuvaluans and 3,225 I-Kiribati. However, it remains complicated for people from Pacific Island Countries to obtain visas. In the absence of migration pathways specifically dedicated to people displaced by the climate crisis, those needing to move across borders must navigate the limited opportunities in other areas such as labour migration. Consequently, those migrating risk falling through the cracks of stringent – at times discriminatory – immigration requirements. Like Sam from Tuvalu, they may be prevented from ever being admitted to Aotearoa New Zealand, or fall into irregularity after admission like Teretia from Kiribati.
The international community’s failure to mitigate and adapt to climate harm, coupled with states’ increasingly restrictive approaches to international migration, are subjecting people to a double injustice. This report focuses on climate displacement from the Pacific Islands of Tuvalu and Kiribati to Aotearoa New Zealand. It is based on extensive field and desk research carried out in Aotearoa New Zealand and Tuvalu between December 2023 and July 2025. Amnesty International collected first-hand testimonies of more than 142 Pacific People, including 68 Tuvaluans and 47 I-Kiribati.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Climate change is a present and accelerating crisis wreaking havoc on the human rights of millions of people. Across the Pacific, the catastrophic impacts of climate change and disasters are undermining basic human rights, including the rights to food, water, health and housing, ultimately compromising the very essence of the right to life and to live with dignity. These issues do not affect all people equally. Those who are disproportionately impacted include children, older persons, people with disabilities, and people with medical conditions.
Pacific nations are on the front lines, facing rising seas, extreme weather events and the erosion of their homelands. Communities have shown extraordinary resilience, pursuing adaptation and mitigation strategies to safeguard human rights and guarantee that people can remain on their lands. However, the scale and urgency of the threat require far greater international cooperation and support across the Pacific and beyond. This is particularly the case for low-lying nations, such as Tuvalu and Kiribati, where possibilities for internal relocation are scarce vis-à-vis the existential threat posed by rising sea levels. All countries have obligations to collectively fight climate change, so that people’s right to live in dignity in their homeland is truly ensured. High income countries that were historically big emitters such as Aotearoa New Zealand have a heightened responsibility to lead the way and support lower income countries, particularly island and low-lying states, with among others, grant-based climate finance.
Faced with such threats, many in the Pacific see migration as a necessary part of adaptation. Aotearoa New Zealand and the rest of the international community have an obligation to respect, protect and promote the human rights of those who move in response to climate change, facilitating those affected in rebuilding their lives across borders. The PRFCM reminded that “rights-based” migration means that mobility “should be built on rights inherent to all human beings without discrimination, based on the principles of dignity, equality and mutual respect”.
Aotearoa New Zealand was previously perceived as a global leader on both climate action and human rights issues. Yet, its current immigration policy framework fails to reflect leadership when it comes
to climate-affected Pacific People. Regular pathways for migration remain severely limited. Existing schemes, although offering a lifeline for some, are mostly lottery-based, and as such they are inherently arbitrary. Discriminatory health and age criteria exclude older people, individuals with health conditions, and persons with disabilities – violating international human rights law.