Islands Get That Sinking Feeling

Natives of some of the world’s most isolated islands are facing the possibility of becoming ‘environmental refugees.’

Rising sea levels could make their homes uninhabitable, forcing entire countries to relocate.

In a documentary on the Pacific island of Tuvalu, the BBC explains just how pressing this issue could soon become.

“The implications are alarming. A typical high tide reaches about two-and-a-half meters. A king tide like now can be more than three. The UN climate panel forecasts a rise of another half-meter, when the highest point is only about four-and-a-half meters.” (BBC)

CNN takes us to the Carteret Islands, where the encroaching seawater is already causing problems.

“Chief Bernard Tunin takes me through gardens ruined by seawater. ‘Pure saltwater is bubbling from underneath and it has spoiled the area in which we’ve been planting swamp taro and other crops.’ ... The pools left behind are a haven for malaria carrying mosquitoes. ‘We get malaria and many of our children are affected by malaria and so this diarrhea and other tummy aches and headaches- all this comes up because of stagnant water.’” (CNN)

Some island leaders are resigned to the fact that their people may have to leave their homes. Tuvalu agreed to a deal with New Zealand in 2001 to accept an annual quota of 75 evacuees for the next 30 years.

Anote Tong, president of Kiribati, an island nation that peaks just two meters above sea-level, told New Zealand’s 3News:

“To plan for the day when you no longer have a country is indeed painful but I think we have to do that.” (3News)

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