Taipei - Taiwan's South Pacific allies, fearing being
drowned by rising sea water, are seeking help from Taiwan, a
newspaper said on Friday.
The China Times said that environmental ministers from Taiwan's
five South Pacific allies raised the issue at the Taiwan-South
Pacific allies' environmental ministers' conference, which opened in
Taipei Thursday.
The islands face many environmental problems threatening their
development and survival, but their biggest one is rising sea levels
caused by global climate warming.
Bryan Star, industrial resources minister of Nauru, complained
that Nauru's territory is shrinking because rising sea water is
eating away the coastline. Nauru's population of about 10,000 people
have almost nowhere to retreat.
The encroaching sea water has also intruded into Nauru's ground
water, thus threatening islanders' water supply.
Whitten Philippo, minister in assistance to the president of the
Marshall Islands, said his country's most urgent problem is the loss
of land. The highest area of the Marshalls is only two metres above
the sea level. If the sea level rises higher, much of the island
chain will be submerged.
Palau, like the Marshall Islands, depends on tourism as the main
source of its income, but global warming is threatening its survival.
The influx of tourists into Palau has led to an imbalance in
Palau's ecology because tourists are using too much water and
electricity, and islanders are catching too many fish to feed them,
Minister of Resources and Development Fritz Koshiba said.
Kiribati's problem is that it has no place to bury his garbage
and wastes because it is too small. Kiribati is the smallest among
Taiwan's five South Pacific allies.
The Solomon Islands, the largest of Taiwan's five South Pacific
allies and the only country among them that has forests, is worried
about encroaching seashore. Farmers can longer plant crops near the
sea shore and must move the farmland inland.
Taiwan's environmental minister Chen Lung-hisn told the meeting
that Taiwan and its five South Pacific allies are all victims of
global warming.
'But Taiwan has successful experiences to export. For example,
Taiwan is good at waste-recycling and its recycling rate is 36 per
cent. Taiwan also has experience in reducing carbon dioxide emission.
Taiwan can share these experiences with its diplomatic allies,' Chen
said.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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