Reuters’ Michael Perry has a lengthy and absolutely fascinating article about Pacific islands disappearing under the rising ocean, as global climate change raises the sea level. (Water expands when warmed.) Perry writes:
Papua New Guinea’s Carteret islanders are destined to become some of the world’s first climate change refugees. Their islands are becoming uninhabitable, and may disappear below the waves.
A decision has been made to move the islanders to the larger nearby Bougainville island, four hours’ boat ride to the southwest. Ten families at a time will be moved, over one to two years, once funds are allocated for the resettlement program.
[…]
“It’s a matter of survival for us. If our islands go under, we all go under,” said President Anote Tong of Kiribati, 33 low-lying islands covering 5 million sq. km (1.9 million sq. mile) in the South Pacific and home to about 100,000 people.
“We move back from the shoreline, (but) how far can we move back? We are in danger of falling off the backside of our islands,” Tong told Reuters at a recent Pacific leaders’ summit in Port Moresby, capital of Papua New Guinea.
[…]
Two uninhabited Kiribati islands, Tebua Tarawa and Abanuea, disappeared underwater in 1999, according to the South Pacific Regional Environment Program, and the island of Tepuka Savilivili no longer has any coconut trees due to salination.
Tong said the world’s big polluters, like the United States and Australia who have remained outside the United Nations’ Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gases, must face the moral consequences of their inaction.
“That is a question that they have to ask themselves — are they willing to see us go under?” Tong said.
I can answer Tong’s question: of course they are.
I’ve noticed that the same people who deny pollution’s role in global climate change are the same people who think that we can cut taxes and also increase services. Coincidence?
Interesting observations. We have done a terrible job on managing our enviroment, and the consequences with affect all of us.
Tebua Tarawa and Abanuea
This story is a fraud. I have a friend who lives in Kiribati and I asked him in an email about this. Here is his reply.
Well it is of concern the Green house House Effect and raising sea level,
some of the low island nations have jumped on the band wagon like Tuvalu, and Kiribati.
Both have intentionally misled the pubic, with unscrupulous money mongering greedy news media,
Both countries are over crowded and people have moved into low lying areas that are periodically flooded by occasional hight tides. I have seen the films, and only with careful editing of the higher ground is this possible to portray what they did . A scam.
They then point to their work and shout look! Raising Sea Level!
It is all a scam for attention, and a chance for aid money.
True.
The sea level is a little higher, like a 1/4 of inch over the last fifty years, but nobody knows any thing yet.
We are the guardians of the planet and things will work out, one way or another.
So much of news scare, scare, scare. Scare sells, scare keep the people frightened, scare keep the rulers in power, scare makes money.
I also live on a pacific island, I see no rise in sea level here AND we are not that far from Kiribati
Stan
Even if Kiribati is run by opportunists seeking a handout, the fact remains that an island that is a few feet above sea level is in a precarious situation, given that it is forecast that the seas will rise by the 3.5 to 35 inches by 2100. But your friend’s comments — silly talk aside (“unscrupulous money mongering greedy news media,” “things will work out, one way or another”) — regarding the nations’ desire for foreign aid are interesting.