As Australia puts more focus on climate change, New Zealand is accused of pulling back
In a role reversal of sorts, Australia has been taking a more aggressive stance on climate change, while its neighbor New Zealand is accused of pulling back.
Two major countries’ approach to climate change has turned upside down Down Under.
Australia and New Zealand, whose governments both changed hands in their most recent national elections, have undergone a role reversal of sorts when it comes to climate change, with consequences for their own populations as well as the South Pacific region, where they are the dominant players.
According to the United Nations, the Asia-Pacific is the most disaster-prone region in the world, with nearly 80% of the world’s climate-induced displacement taking place there.
Rising sea levels, ocean warming and acidification, unpredictable rainfall patterns and prolonged droughts have an especially big impact on tiny Pacific Island nations such as Palau, Tuvalu and Kiribati, threatening their socioeconomic viability, tourism industries and very existence as the ocean swallows more of their land.
Australia, long known as a climate “laggard,” has taken a more aggressive stance under the Labor government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
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