State of the Environment for Oceania 2017 Report
Caritas’ fourth State of the Environment for Oceania report, Turning the Tide, was released on St Francis Day, at Te Ngākau Tapu Parish in Porirua, Aotearoa New Zealand.
A key message in this report is that we need work together to take better care of our common ocean and coastal environments. The Pacific Ocean contains nearly 50 percent of the earth’s total supply of water and covers 33 percent of the world’s surface, yet it continues to be abused.
Rising sea levels, food and water security, mining of the sea floor, extreme weather and climate finance are all examined through stories and data gathered through Caritas’ community-based research. Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand publishes this year’s report in collaboration with Caritas Tonga, Caritas Samoa, Caritas Papua New Guinea and Caritas Australia.
In 2014 we produced our foundational report on the environment in Oceania. Each year since 2015 we have produced a State of the Environment for Oceania report based on discussions with our partners in the region. The report is launched each year on St Francis Day, 4 October.
Turning the Tide
State of the Environment for Oceania 2017 Report
State of the Environment for Oceania 2016 Report
“People have died and have been sick because they have no food to eat and no safe, clean water to drink.”
Tony Inikre (Caritas Coordinator for Vanimo Diocese in northwest Papua New Guinea), in February, during the peak of the El Niño drought in Papua New Guinea.
State of the Environment for Oceania 2015 Report
“For us Oceania peoples, ... climate change is a daily struggle. For many of our Oceania countries it is a question of whether we remain on or leave our sinking homes. Our livelihoods are linked to the Pacific Ocean. Sea level rise and ocean acidification and other effects of global warming threaten our way of life – and even our national identities. For us it is a matter of life and death.”
- Caritas Oceania leaders