Australia under scrutiny over global warming

COOLUM, Australia (CNN) -- The tiny island nations of Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Maldives are considering taking Australia to the International Court of Justice over the issue of global warming.

The Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Koloa Talake, told media at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Monday that his country was exploring this and other legal options for his low-lying Pacific nation.

Tuvalu, which is attending its first CHOGM in its own right, is under threat of being swamped if global sea levels rise due to the impact of global warming.

Talake said a number of islets where he used to play as a child had already been submerged and high-tide flooding had become a common event.

He disputed scientific studies, supported by Australia and the United States, which suggest there had, as yet, been no discernible rise in sea levels.

He said the hard fact of life in Tuvalu disproved this alternate theory.

"Islands are disappearing. Flooding is there, climate is changing, beaches are oceans. Don't we think this is a good indication?" Talake said.

Some of his people were already fleeing the nation to avoid being drowned, he said.

Environmental refugees

The legal actions were one way his government could try to protect the 12,000 Tuvaluans who were at risk of becoming environmental refugees.

Tuvalu and other nations were also exploring the possibility of taking legal action against major corporations that were responsible for greenhouse gas emissions.

Talake said he was disappointed that Australia was not championing the cause of the small Pacific nations and instead siding with the United States on the greenhouse issue.

Per capita, Australia is one of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases because of its vast reserves of fossil fuels such as coal.

The issue of global warming and the threat to low-lying nations has not featured prominently at this CHOGM, with delegates waylaid by the contentious issue of Zimbabwe and the Commonwealth's response to the post September 11 climate.