New Zealand creates special refugee visa for Pacific islanders affected by climate change
With ocean levels rising in recent decades due to the warming planet, one of the most direct effects has been on the residents of low-lying Pacific nations where coasts have been subsiding and some islands have disappeared.
The result is a looming wave of "climate refugees" who are set to present a new migration problem to the region.
As some Pacific countries prepare to relocate entire communities, New Zealand's newly-elected Labor-led coalition government has become the first country in the world to introduce a climate refugee scheme.
photo credit: Stuck in Customs