From fishermen in Galicia to Ugandan coffee farmers and disappearing islands in the Pacific, communities around the world are hoping for action at the climate talks in Paris. Here are some of their stories.
Kiribati
A report by the Brookings Institution estimated that between 665,000 and 1.7m people in the Pacific could be displaced or forced to emigrate by 2050 – and Kiribati is on the climate change front line.
Representatives of Kiribati and other low-lying Pacific and Indian Ocean nations met in October to discuss how they might relocate their populations – and where the money would come from to do it.
As a precaution, Kiribati – with a population of 100,000 – has bought land on Fiji, more than 1,000 miles away, for $8m (£5.3m).
“We would hope not to put everyone on one piece of land, but if it became absolutely necessary, yes, we could do it … it’s basically going to be a matter of survival,” Kiribati’s President Anote Tong said last year.
Ioane Teitiota attempted to escape his country’s fate by claiming to be the world’s first climate change refugee – although his claim has so far been rebuffed by New Zealand and he and his family face deportation.
Mr Teitiota’s lawyer Michael Kidd argued: “New Zealand is returning him and his family to a situation where there is danger from a number of things, such as rising sea levels and pollution of fresh water and the possibility of cyclones destroying the place.”
Spain
Jose Agustin Perez has noticed significant changes in the weather and sea temperatures during more than 20 years fishing the Galician coast.
He says fishermen fear the species they depend on for their livelihood could be driven out of their region by tropical fish, which have appeared in increasing numbers as sea temperatures have risen.
He says: “Our biggest problem is the warm sea, there are less fish.
“What we’re noticing is that tropical fish are appearing – mostly triggerfish and ocean sunfish, species that are not from here.
“First, they break our nets, on top of not being a commercial species and second we are afraid they will chase away the commercial varieties we have here.”
2015 Sky UK