Australia’s position as a high-emitting and wealthy neighbour to a group of islands that could potentially lose everything to the ravages of climate change brings with it certain responsibilities.

The 22 island states of the Pacific contribute less than a tenth of a per cent of global emissions, but stand to be the nations worst affected by climate change. In contrast, Australia is the fourth highest per capita greenhouse gas emitter in the world.

According to Jill Finnane from the Pacific Calling Partnership, this means we have an ecological debt to these people. “We owe them because they are suffering because of what made us wealthy,” she said.

What’s more, as a signatory to a number of international treaties and protocols, Australia has an obligation to protect individuals against threats posed to human rights by climate change.

Firstly, this means substantially reducing emissions.

The Rudd Government recently revised their greenhouse gas emissions reduction target up to a maximum of 25 per cent of 2000 levels by 2020, dependent on the outcome of the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December.

But even a 25 per cent global reduction in greenhouse gas emissions won’t save these islands. “It’s nowhere near enough for the Pacific,” says Ms Finnane.

The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), an intergovernmental coalition of low-lying coastal and small island countries, argues that greenhouse gas concentrations must be stabilised at well below 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide and temperature increases limited to well below 1.5 degrees Celsius. They say a 2°C increase compared to pre-industrial levels would have devastating consequences on small island developing states.

These targets would require a reduction of more than 85 per cent in global carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. Annex I countries, of which Australia is one, would need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by more than 40 per cent to 1990 levels by 2020, and more than 95 per cent by 2050.

In addition to reducing emissions, Australia is being called on to provide adaptation support and resettlement options for people displaced from their homelands.

In recognition of the challenges faced by vulnerable countries in its region, the Australian Government has committed $150 million over three years to climate adaptation in the Pacific through the International Climate Change Adaptation Initiative.

But much more money is needed, according to the report by Oxfam Australia released this week. It says that meeting just the most urgent adaptation needs in the Pacific will require between $365 million and $668 million.

And what if adaptation measures aren’t enough? Up to 100,000 climate-displaced people may seek immigration assistance from Australia between now and 2030, according to a paper presented at the Environment, Forced Migration and Social Vulnerability International Conference in October 2008.

The development of an Alliance of Pacific Rim countries prepared to accept climate change refugees was proposed by the ALP while in opposition but it hasn’t come to fruition. And now the government doesn’t seem to want to talk about permanent resettlement of people displaced by climate change.

According to a spokesman for the immigration department, “Australia understands its responsibility in the region and is willing to be flexible with its visa policies should some kind of emergency situation occur but our priority is to assist them at the moment to adapt to climate change in their own countries.”