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South Pacific island-nations endangered by rising sea levels

By Christiane Oelrich Jan 26, 2007, 10:57 GMT

Singapore - Nothing is as it used to be on the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea.

Nothing is as it used to be on the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea. Only from a distance does the archipelago appear like a South Pacific paradise, but the illusion quickly evaporates as soon as one steps foot onto land. Where blossoming fruit orchards once stood, all that remains are smelly puddles of brackish water. And practically all freshwater wells have been contaminated by sea water. Idyllic huts that once lined the beach are now abandoned ruins, slowly being swallowed by the encroaching ocean. 'The flood last June was the worst experienced by anyone there,' Paul Tobasi, a former Carteret resident, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. He is executive manager of the Atolls District in the local government of Bougainville. The atoll, reached by a 2-hour flight from Papua New Guinea's capital Port Moresby to the island of Bougainville and an additional 7-hour boat ride, is sinking into the sea. The 2,500 Carteret Islanders planted mangroves in an attempt to save the land near the beaches and even erected sea walls with heaps of giant clam shells, but all to no avail. Carteret's fate is also shared by the Pacific island republics Tuvalu and Kiribati and the Cook Islands, a territory of New Zealand, as the South Pacific's water level is rising and rising. There is no future for the people on the Carteret Islands, which have been inhabited for more than 400 years. 'They must leave this year. The way things are going, I think the islands will be underwater in 15 to 20 years,' said Tobasi. Next week, the 2,000 member-scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will release their latest report, the result of six years of research. The 7 million citizens of 22 South Pacific island nations and territories are not expecting rosy news. The panel already warned in 2001 that global sea levels will rise by up to 88 centimetres by the end of the century, a development primarily caused by an increase in human-produced greenhouse gases heating the earth's atmosphere and melting icebergs and glaciers. Carteret islanders, where the highest elevation is a mere 1.70 metres above current sea level, will be resettled to Bougainville within the year provided the necessary funds can be raised. The islanders are aware that they must hurry, because living on the islands has become almost unbearable and food is getting scarce. 'They live on coconuts and fish. They used to cultivate sweet potatoes and taro in the swamps, but the floods invaded everything. There are high deposits of salt water and the soil is inappropriate now,' said Tobasi. On Tuvalu, located halfway between Australia and Hawaii, vegetable fields also have long since deteriorated while fish stocks have been depleted due to coral reef bleaching. The highest hills found on the eight Tuvalu islands reach only 5 metres above sea level. The island-nation's government has signed an agreement with New Zealand, which will accept Tuvalu's 11,500 inhabitants when the situation becomes dangerous. Tuvalu's government expects the islands to be entirely underwater within the next 50 years. Rain is the only source of drinking water for the 100,000 citizens of the island republic of Kiribati as shallow freshwater reservoirs are increasingly contaminated by salt due to the rising ocean level. Kiribati once also comprised the uninhabited islands of Tarawa and Abanuea, but in 1999 they simply went under during a tropical storm and never resurfaced. The doomsday clock is also ticking in the Maldives, a country of 1,200 islands off the southwestern tip of India. Some of the coral islands were washed over by the 2004 tsunami and remained flooded for several days, after which the waters receded once more. The United Nations warned that in a few years continually rising sea levels might cause up to 50 million people to lose their livelihoods and become environmental refugees. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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It's a LieJan 27th, 2007 - 00:30:44

There is no conclusive proof that greenhouse gases cause sea rises.

SP4

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kurt danlaw anderson....dan_rt45@hotmail.comJan 27th, 2007 - 17:03:49

I agree it's a lie,only stupidity could linger that long in idle minds.

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KiribatiJan 27th, 2007 - 17:05:52

The island of Tarawa is the capital of Kiribati and very much inhabited, it is also very much still above the sea. Whist this may change in the future for now it is where it has always been. I think you were refering to the islet of Bikeman, which was uninhabited and located in the lagoon of Tarawa atoll. Bikeman disappeared into the lagoon at the end of the twentieth century and is now just a sand bar at low tide. The exact cause of its disappearance is unknown but currently the most likely explanation seems to be rising sea levels.

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6 Billion people generate HeatJan 28th, 2007 - 13:17:08

Not 7, not 700, not 7,000, not 70,000, not 700,000, but 7,000,000 (million, speled with an 'm') people will be displaced in the near term from regions of the South Pacific they have inhabited for at least 400 years.

I have done the math and whatever the cause (and it is global warming) 1.7 meters above sea level in the Souht Pacific equals salt in your ground water and a moving van (if you are lucky) in your future.

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SarmonsterJan 29th, 2007 - 22:30:37

Lets put a face on this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRxpLnfv6xA

These people are or WERE self-sufficient, don't have any vehicles, and for the most part aren't contributors to the oil-based economy. I think the worst part out of all this is that it's these 'innocent' people who are suffering.

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mohdazharbinabdullahJan 30th, 2007 - 20:29:36

It seems people are concerned about islands because they show the immediate effect.I live in Kuala Terengganu,Chendering and by the sea.I have walked the beach for more than 30 years.I saw the sea eating away slowly from centimetres to metres.Last year 2006 was the worst.I practically saw how the violent sea rise ate the shore to a calculated distance of thirty meters.It is strange that governments had ignored taking measures to save the land.Many accept the fact that nature wins the battle but for those who had lived and earned the livelihood from the sea these are baffling times.Erosion can be drastic and it should have other reasons for the rise of the sea.Can it be the violent earthquakes under the sea which is rambling forever?Is there any other theories than the greenhouse effect and the melting of the snow? Perhaps we can put a stop to these undersea earthquakes by neutralising using nuclear force.We are not doing enough.

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