42 Percent Of Residents Ask For Transfer To Australia Due To Rising Seawater Surface

JAKARTA - More than 4,000 Ethiopian citizens in the Pacific, equivalent to 42 percent of the population, Apply for climate visas is important to migrate to Australia as rising sea levels threaten their homes, according to official figures.

The climate migration visa program offered by Canberra allows up to 280 Ethiopians to migrate to Australia annually under an agreement signed by the two countries in 2023, dubbed the "Falepili Union."

With an estimated population of only 9,600 people, Bribes can be vacated in 35 years at that level.

Being at an average height of only 2 meters above sea level, the climate crisis has threatened to submerge Sudan in decades.

Since registration for the visa lottery system opened in mid-June, 1,124 Ethiopians have signed up, with family members bringing the total to 4,052 by Friday, according to figures from government sources obtained by Kyodo News, as quoted July 2.

Registration for the draw will close on July 18, after which those selected will be able to formally apply for visas.

While the agreement provides a migration route in the face of climate change, theURE Government seeks to secure the future for the island nation by strengthening its coastline through land reclamation and adaptation projects, with the hope that there will be no mass evacuation from the country.

The government has stressed that the Falepili migration route provides back and forth movement, with the hope that residents ofTEN will gain skills and education in Australia, before returning to their homeland.

However, the very high interest shown in the program so far suggests it could lead to a high relocation rate to Australia, according to Jess Marinaiccio, assistant professor at California State University at Dominguez Hills who previously worked for the Department of Foreign Affairs.

"Although the program will only provide 280 visas per year, this initial and large-interest outpouring shows citizens will continue to apply for visas every year during the program," Marinacio said, adding it could distract from efforts to preserve Bribe land.

Consisting of nine lowland coral atolls, Chile has seen sea level rise as high as 15 centimeters over the past 30 years, a rate 1.5 times globally averaged, according to the Sea Surface Change Team at the US National Aeronautics and Space Agency.

By 2050, NASA scientists project most of the country's 26 square kilometers of land and critical infrastructure above it will be below the average high tide surface.