For the past five or six years, I’ve been following the plight of Kiribati, a Pacific nation of 33 islands. About 110,000 people live on Kiribati. They’ve been watching rising sea levels eat away at their homeland. While President Trump has repeatedly described climate change as a hoax, nobody on Kiribati believes that. Year by year, they see their homeland disappearing.
About half of the Kiribati people live on Tarawa, an island which saw some of the fiercest fighting of World War II. By 2050, 50-80 percent of Tarawa will be covered with ocean water, which is already contaminating fresh water sources, making it impossible to grow food, and threatening livelihoods. Tides reach into villages; a while back, I read about one village which had to be abandoned. Some islands have already disappeared, forcing people to crowd onto Tarawa.
Kiribati has been inhabited for about 5000 years. But in the years ahead, the entire population will probably need to relocate. Kiribati bought 6000 acres on Fiji’s main island. That will be their new “homeland.” They will continue to exist as a people, but not as a nation. There are discussions about enabling the Kiribati people to continue being recognized as a national body, what is called “ex-situ nationhood,” but I don’t see it happening. It would be akin to recognizing Jews scattered around the world, prior to the establishment of Israel, as a “nation” of sorts, giving them international recognition as a people even while they live as citizens of a geographic country. It’ll be interesting to see what ultimately happens–for them, and for other threatened island nations.
For Kiribati and others, it’s too late for the world to take action against global warming. Processes are in motion, and can’t be stopped.
Former Kiribati president Anote Tong said, “The science is pretty clear: zero emissions, we’ll still go underwater. Unless some drastic work is undertaken, there will be no option. That’s the reality. It’s not a hope. It’s not a desire. It’s the brutal reality.” He said moving is “a matter of survival.”
Many other island nations–the Seychelles, Maldives, Tuvalu, Palau, Solomons, and others–face the same thing, as rising oceans are forcing people to relocate.
