2015•12•10     Paris     Nature

The Cook Islands’ fate might depend on the United Nations climate summit in Paris this week. The low-lying Pacific Ocean nation is threatened by sea-level rise driven by global warming. But its Prime Minister Henry Puna fears that international action to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions won’t be enough to help his country.

He wants the world to begin planning to help his people to migrate if they are overwhelmed by rising tides. “There needs to be more thought, more dialogue and more data,” says Puna — adding that money alone won’t solve the problem. “Can you put a dollar figure on a birthright, a nationhood, on sense of belonging? I suggest not.”

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