Friday, February 10, 2017

New Zealand and Environmental Refugees

Two countries, Australia and New Zealand are located in a very remote place from Europe. What is a better destination for tourists? I asked this question Vuke, who is from Auckland (New Zealand) during the online conversation and he answered:
New Zealand is a better destination than Australia. There is a friendly war between Australians and New Zealanders about which country is better. New Zealanders say that Australia is full of poisonous insects and they will kill you. Australians say that New Zealand has nothing happening, the place was forgotten and this country is not relevant.

It is true that in New Zealand we don't have poisonous insects, the climate is very mild compared to Australia. The temperature in Summer is about 27-28 degrees Celsius. During the winter the temperature is plus 5-12 degrees.

Just recommendation for tourists who come to New Zealand for a beach holiday is to stay in the Coromandel on the North Island.

About the level of life:
Living in New Zealand is quite expensive, especially real estates.
Prices of houses are really high. It is necessary to have one million 
New Zealand Dollars (NZD) for foreigner's investors who move for living to New Zealand. Many rich people came last years from China and the South Korea. A living wage is 21 NZD. The government approved a minimum wage is 15 NZD for an hour. It is not much and it is a reason why people search other places for living.

About emigration:
In the 60s -70s it was very easy to emigrate, it was more affordable, because it was time for industrialization and the country needed the workers. During this period of time appeared some large Cambodian community, Russian community, Pacific islands communities. Today is quite difficult to emigrate to New Zealand. New Zealand is welcoming the qualified working force, educated people. Tourists need to keep in mind that it is not possible to find cheap air tickets from Europe to New Zealand.

The country's biggest city, Auckland, is located on the North Island. The South Island is very close to the South Pole. Auckland is a very boring city compared to other metropolises. It's trying to be a huge city, it's trying to copy a big city, but it doesn't work. The nature on the South Islands is untouched.


New Zealand's South Island scenery

It is why so many cruise ships float around the island. Tourists enjoy seeing to kiwi birds, spring penguins, and other rare animals. North Island has a majority of a population. South Island is only for 10% inhabited by people.

There is a big discussion in media last years about environmental refugees. Environmental refugees are people who are forced to leave their home region due to sudden or long-term changes to their local environment which compromise their well-being or secure livelihood. Such changes include sea-level rise. Environmental refugees flee to or migrate to another country. The problem is that there are some islands which are covering the water due to global warming.

The biggest suggestion is to ship people from them to the South Island because it has a lot of space.
One of the stories which were discussed on the Internet and was caused even protests from inhabitants happened a few years ago. A New Zealand court has granted residency to a family from Tuvalu, a Pacific island nation averaging about two meters above sea level. It was claimed as a juridical precedent of giving to refugees the rights to stay in New Zealand. It claimed that it based on the humanitarian reasons but in fact, it wasn't. The decision of the tribunal was based on close family ties with their members who already have stayed in the country.

Another story is about the man who is Kiribati climate change refugee. He was arrested by police and immigration officials at his West Auckland home for overstaying his permit. His family, from Kiribati, had fought numerous legal battles to stay in New Zealand as climate change refugees rather than return to the island nation, which is threatened by rising sea levels. They didn't want to return to their polluted and potentially dangerous home country. The court decided that "the Government of Kiribati is failing to take steps to protect its citizens from the effects of environmental degradation to the extent that it can". The man and his family had to return to the Pacific Island nation, which was threatened by the effects of global warming.

This news came just Today:
More than 400 whales have stranded on a New Zealand beach and about three-quarters of them have died in what authorities are describing as the worst whale stranding they've ever seen.

It proves that the problem of protecting our environment is becoming more and more real. Let's think about it again.

This story was written after the class with the teacher Vuke in online school engoo.com

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