Kiribati – Relocation and Adaptation Maryanne Loughry and Jane Mcadam
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FMR31 FMR31 CLIMATE CHANGE AND DISPLACEMENT 51 Kiribati – relocation and adaptation Maryanne Loughry and Jane McAdam As well as developing adaptation strategies, the people ■ human health impacts with of Kiribati are having to consider the possibility of an increase in the incidence of permanent relocation. dengue fever and diarrhoea. They are clearly aware of the effects of According to the Intergovernmental Kiribati is also thought to be one climate change on their environment Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)1, of the nations most vulnerable to and fishing patterns. However, they sea-level rise is expected to threaten the impact of climate change. This are unsure of the science of climate vital infrastructure and structures is due in combination to the low- change and frequently attribute the supporting the livelihood of many lying land mass with the population changes they are experiencing to the Pacific island communities. By the having no recourse to higher lands, actions of God rather than human middle of the 21st century, climate the nation’s limited sources of activities. Some believe that the change is expected to reduce their income, and the concentration of current changes and water surges are water supplies to the point where the majority of the population on signs of God punishing wrongdoing. they become insufficient to meet one dominant atoll. These factors, Others believe that the future of demand in low rain periods. Already combined with increasing changes Kiribati, though grim, is assured a significant numbers of people in in climate, pose a threat to Kiribati’s because God promised in the Book of the Carteret Islands of Papua New food and water security, health and Genesis that there would never again Guinea are preparing to evacuate to infrastructure, as well as the ability of be a flood like the one experienced by Bougainville in 2008, and scientists the Kiribati government to cope with Noah. Both explanations restrict the suggest that these islands and the increasing climate-related disasters. people of Kiribati’s sense that they can Pacific nations of Tuvalu and Kiribati be active in addressing the climate are at risk of disappearing altogether In 2004, the people of Kiribati changes they are experiencing. by the middle of the century. acknowledged, in the Otin Taai Declaration,2 that human-induced Regardless of explanation, the The Republic of Kiribati is an island climate change will have an extensive immensity of the problem facing the nation consisting of one island and range of negative impacts on peoples I-Kiribati calls into question whether 32 low-lying atolls (with a total land of the Pacific Islands, including: adaptation is merely putting off area of 811 square kilometres) in the the inevitable. A 2006 World Bank Pacific Ocean. The people of Kiribati ■ loss of coastal land and report, aptly called Not If but When,3 – known as I-Kiribati – all share infrastructure due to erosion, stressed the inevitability of these one common language, Gilbertese. inundation and storm surges extreme climate events for nations Kiribati includes the largest coral such as Kiribati – and the likelihood atoll in the world, Kirimati or ■ increase in frequency and of them becoming more extreme. Christmas Island. Most of the land severity of cyclones with The report stops short, however, of of Kiribati is less than three metres risks to human life, health, saying that populations may need above sea level and on average homes and communities to migrate to avoid these extreme only a few hundred metres wide. climate events. Rather, the onus is ■ loss of coral reefs with put on Pacific nations to address risk The population is approximately implications for the sea eco- management of natural hazards and 92,000, of whom nearly 50,000 live systems on which the livelihood to build adaptation plans into their in South Tarawa, a highly dense area of many Islanders depends national development policies. with a population growth rate of 3% per year. Most of the I-Kiribati are ■ changes in rainfall patterns Relocation? engaged in subsistence activities, with increased droughts in At the 60th session of the UN General including fishing and the growing of some areas and more rainfall Assembly in 2005, Kiribati’s President, bananas and copra (dried coconut). with flooding in other areas Anote Tong, mentioned the need The soil on the atolls is very poor for nations to seriously consider the and there is little opportunity ■ threats to drinking water supplies option of relocation – the ultimate for agricultural development. due to changes in rainfall, sea- form of adaptation to climate change. However, the fishing grounds are level rise and inundation He acknowledged that other forms rich and copra and fish represent of adaptation might be too late for the bulk of production and exports. ■ loss of sugarcane, yams, taro his nation, and that now is the time Nevertheless, Kiribati has one of the and cassava due to extreme to be discussing what might need highest poverty rates in the Pacific. temperatures and rainfall changes to happen in the coming decades. 52 CLIMATE CHANGE AND DISPLACEMENT FMR31 FMR31 The option of migration is not including migration, for the people The statement also called for a unfamiliar to the people of Kiribati. of Kiribati. In particular, he hopes for regional immigration policy giving In the 1940s, Kiribati’s Banaba increased labour migration options citizens most affected by climate Island was decimated by phosphate so that family members can support change rights to resettle in other mining and the vast majority of their extended family in Kiribati Pacific Island nations or Pacific the population moved to the island through remittances. Not surprisingly, regional countries of their choice. of Rabi in Fiji. There has also been Australia and New Zealand are a movement of the population of two of the countries that President For many people and nations, Kiribati to the atoll of South Tarawa, Tong is asking to be more receptive climate-induced displacement is a resulting in over half of the total to increased labour migration from reality. However, the assistance and population of Kiribati residing on Kiribati. However, this is seen as a protection needs of the displaced are this one atoll. In reaction to the high short-term response, pending a more still being addressed primarily by population density there, in the 1990s comprehensive and radical response the world’s poorer, more vulnerable the Kiribati government moved to be considered in the next decades. nations, frequently in a piecemeal nearly 5,000 people to outlying atolls. manner and without Palau Significant actors like the World the weight and Kiribati The infrastructure of Kiribati is Bank4, in collaboration with resources of the under huge pressure. Many of the partners such as AusAID and international houses lack modern sanitation and NZAID (the Australian and New community. are frequently not connected to the Zealand governments’ overseas aid town sewage system (where it exists). programmes), and the European Maryanne Beaches and other agricultural land Union have invested in adaptation Loughry are frequently used for washing projects such as increasing popular (maryanne. and toilet needs. In addition, the awareness in Kiribati of the effects loughry@ South Tarawa sewage system is of climate change and developing googlemail. over 25 years old and, because of infrastructure such as building higher com) is Associate limited funds, was not constructed and stronger sea walls. What is still Director, Jesuit Refugee of sufficient length to take sewage not in place at present, however, is Service Australia (www.jrs.org.au). beyond the reef, resulting in an adequate forum for discussions Jane McAdam ([email protected]. effluent returning to the atoll with of realistic options available. Nor au) is Senior Lecturer and Director of the tide. This, coupled with more is there an institution mandated International Law Programs in the extreme weather conditions and to assist the population of Kiribati Faculty of Law, University of New extra high tides, has meant that the to negotiate the most appropriate South Wales (www.law.unsw.edu.au). domestic water supply is already response to their pending plight. 1. Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental compromised, with ground water Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2007: The at risk and the Tawara lagoon In September 2007 the Pacific Physical Science Basis: Summary for Policymakers, www. aaas.org/news/press_room/climate_change/media/4th_ polluted. These pressures on the Conference of Churches called spm2feb07.pdf population add to the urgency of an upon the churches of the Pacific to 2. www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2607 adequate response for the I-Kiribati. be welcoming and compassionate 3. World Bank, Not If but When: Adapting to Natural Hazards in the Pacific Islands Region (2006) http:// to those people of Kiribati, Tuvalu siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPACIFICISLANDS/ President Tong has called for urgent and the Marshall Islands who Resources/Natural-Hazards-report.pdf discussions on adaptation options, wish to resettle in Pacific countries. 4. through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Trust Fund www.undp.org/gef Palau – coral reef protection Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus Climate change threatens to destroy coral reef ecosystems. “…the destruction of our coral reefs When reefs die, economic and food security is threatened, is tantamount to the destruction of forcing people to move. our country.” Ambassador Stuart Beck of Palau, speaking to the UN Coral reef ecosystems are home to increasing ocean temperatures, Security Council on 17 April, 2007 an estimated one million species ocean acidification, storm severity and are among the most productive and sea-level rise – threaten to destroy ecosystems on the planet. They are coral reef ecosystems.1 Unusual Palau is attempting to adapt in critical for food supply; over a billion warming events have already caused several ways.