CCPR/C/127/D/2728/2016 2.5 Thereafter, the Tribunal examined the testimony given by the author during the appeal hearing. According to the Tribunal’s description of the testimony, the author was born on an islet situated north of Tarawa, a journey of several days by boat. He completed secondary school and obtained employment for a trading company, which ended in the mid-1990s when the company folded. He had not been able to find work since then. In 2002, the author and his wife moved in with his wife’s family in a traditionally constructed dwelling in a village in Tarawa. The dwelling was situated at ground level and had electricity and water, but no sewage services. Beginning in the late 1990s, life became progressively more insecure on Tarawa because of sea level rise. Tarawa became overcrowded due to the influx of residents from outlying islands, given that most government services, including those of the main hospital, were provided on Tarawa. As villages became overcrowded, tensions arose. Also beginning in the late 1990s, Tarawa suffered significant amounts of coastal erosion during high tides. The land surface regularly flooded, and land could be submerged up to knee-deep during especially high tides. Transportation was affected, since the main causeway separating north and south Tarawa was often flooded. The situation caused significant hardship for the author and the other inhabitants of Tarawa. The wells on which they depended became salinized. Salt water was deposited on the ground, resulting in the destruction of crops. The land was stripped of vegetation in many places, and crops were difficult to grow. The author’s family relied largely on subsistence fishing and agriculture. The sea wall in front of the author’s in-laws’ home was often damaged and required constant repair. The author and his wife left Kiribati for New Zealand because they wished to have children, and had received information from news sources that there would be no future in their country. The author accepted that his experiences were common to people throughout Kiribati. He believed that the Government of Kiribati was powerless to stop the sea level rise. Internal relocation was not possible. The author’s parents lived on Tarawa but faced similar environmental and population pressures. 2.6 The Tribunal also considered the oral testimony of the author’s wife. According to the Tribunal, she testified that she was born in the late 1970s on Arorae Island, in the south of Kiribati. In 2000, her family moved to Tarawa. She married the author in 2002. Her parents’ home was situated on the edge of a sea wall. The house and land were not owned by her parents, but belonged to a neighbour. Since her arrival in New Zealand, the neighbour had passed away and his children had been demanding that her family vacate the house. Her family was supported financially by one of her brothers, who had obtained employment in South Tarawa. If the family were obligated to vacate the house, they would have to travel back to Arorae Island and settle on a small plot of land. She was concerned for the family’s health and well-being. The land was eroding due to the effects of sea level rise. The drinking water was contaminated with salt. Crops were dying, as were the coconut trees. She had heard reports of children getting diarrhoea and even dying because of the poor quality of the drinking water. Land was becoming very overcrowded, and houses were close together, which led to the spread of disease. 2.7 The Tribunal further considered many supporting documents submitted by the author, including several scholarly articles written by United Nations entities and experts. The Tribunal analysed whether the author could qualify as a refugee or a protected person under the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment or the Covenant. It found the author to be entirely credible. It noted that the carrying capacity of the land on the Tarawa atoll had been negatively impacted by the effects of population growth, urbanization and limited infrastructure development, particularly in relation to sanitation. Those impacts had been exacerbated by both sudden onset environmental events, such as storms, and slow onset processes, such as sea level rise. The Tribunal noted that the author had been unemployed for several years before arriving in New Zealand, and had relied on subsistence agriculture and fishing, while receiving financial support from his wife’s brother. The Tribunal noted the author’s statement that he did not wish to return to Kiribati because of the difficulties he and his family faced there, due to the combined pressures of overpopulation and sea level rise. The house they were living in on South Tarawa was no longer available to them on a long-term basis. Although the couple’s families had land on other islands, they would face similar environmental pressures there, and the land available was of limited size and was occupied by other family members. 2.8 After a lengthy analysis of international human rights standards, the Tribunal determined that “while in many cases the effects of environmental change and natural 3