One of the leaders of Asian Development Bank research predicting a surge of climate-change related migration in the Pacific over the next 50 years says there'll be positive spin-offs for people forced to move.
The bank expects to issue a draft report in early March as part of a broader project to develop policies and funding strategies around environmental migration.
Bart Edes says the report aims to spur debate among governments as to how they'll approach the issue.
"It's not just a matter of vulnerability or that people will rush onto boats to depart their homeland. There is an opportunity here to use climate-induced migration as a tool of adaptation. There's an opportunity with advanced planning of helping people arrive in settings where they may have greater opportunities for livelihoods and where poverty can be reduced."
Bart Edes says most of the migration that'll occur in the Pacific will be within national borders.
