While the world’s eyes are on Copenhagen, spare a thought for Kiribati. Kiribati is sinking and predictions are within fifty years the entire nation of 32 atolls and a raised coral island stretching over 3,500,000 square kilometres, a larger area than India, across the central tropical Pacific Ocean may well be permanently submerged and consequently unlivable for its 100,000 citizens. It along with fellow Pacific island nation, Tuvalu – and its 10,000 citizens, stand to lose the most from climate change and resultant sea level rises with the two nations predicted to be the first to go under.
Tuvaluan village - a tropical paradise soon to be lost forever
Whilst, both island nations are veritable tropical paradises, their key vulnerability is their tiny elevations above sea level, an average of just two metres for Kiribati and a highest point of just 4.5 metres above sea level for Tuvalu, the second lowest in the world. (The Maldives actually has the lowest maximum elevation of just 2.3 metres above sea level and an average of just 1.5 metres above sea level. It, too is in danger of sinking fast having already experienced sea level increases of 20 centimetres in the last century).
Activists in Copenhagen protesting on behalf of island nations for a better deal in dealing with climate change and resultant sea level rises affecting their nations
The situation has become so tense that the Kiribati President, Anote Tong, called on Australia and New Zealand to accept his citizens as permanent refugees, having stated that the country has already reached “the point of no return”. He also has stated that he will consider buying land to relocate his citizens if no other situation options can be found. Adding that “to plan for the day when you no longer have a country is indeed painful but I think we have to do that.”
Australia and New Zealand, the largest nations in Oceania, to their credit have started to make preparations to help and support the beleaguered I-Kiribatis and Tuvaluans by assisting in training and education programmes. But, Kiribati officials in Copenhagen are saying that the regional powers of the south Pacific are not doing enough to address the potentially catastrophic consequences of having over 100,000 individuals having to emigrate and be permanently relocated due to environmental factors in the near future.
The oncoming, endless waves of the Pacific inundating a Kiribati village. A depressing but increasingly common sight in Kiribati
Unfortunately for the citizens of Kiribati and Tuvalu, it appears Anote Tong may be right, we have already reached the point of no return. Whether you agree that climate change has been accelerated by human activities or not, this is regardless a tragedy of epic proportions for the Pacific island residents of Kiribati and Tuvalu, whose nations have done next to nothing to contribute to climate change but will be the first to bear the consequences of it. For this reason, I hope and trust the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, along with other developed nations – the prime contributors to accelerated climate change, do their utmost to repatriate, house and educate these innocent victims of global climate change.
The tragedy of a real paradise lost in the near future
Posted by elcanguro76 
