WELLINGTON: A Pacific islander's bid to become the world's first climate change refugee failed on Tuesday, with a New Zealand judge describing his case as "unconvincing". Lawyers for Ioane Teitiota, 37, argued that New Zealand immigration authorities should not deport him, even though his visa had expired, because rising seas were threatening his low-lying homeland of Kiribati in the central Pacific.
The difficulties Teitiota and his family would encounter in Kiribati - which consists of more than 30 coral atolls, most only a few metres above sea level - meant they should be recognized as refugees, the lawyers said.
In a written ruling handed down on Tuesday, high court judge John Priestley acknowledged that Kiribati was suffering environmental degradation attributable to climate change, including storm surges, flooding and water contamination.
But he said that under the internationally recognized UN Refugee Convention a refugee must fear persecution if they returned to their homeland, a criteria Teitiota did not meet.
"The economic environment of Kiribati might certainly not be as attractive to the applicant and his fellow nationals as the economic environment and prospects of Australia and New Zealand," he said.
"But... his position does not appear to be different from that of any other Kiribati national," he added.
