Preparing to Swim or Sink: For the past four years, the looming threat of sea level rise has had islands nations from The Maldives to Kirabati planning to relocate their populations before the sea overtakes the atolls on which they live.
The small nations are some of those most vulnerable to climate-induced sea level rise and have put plans in place to buy land to relocate in areas such as India, Sri Lanka, and Fiji if necessary.
While preparing for the worst, however, the Nations’ have stated they would prefer larger countries make more effort toward stanching the human causes of climate change. The Maldives, in fact, began an ambitious plan in 2009 to set a carbon neutral example.
Rising Worries about Sea Level: Representatives of vulnerable nations met informally with the UN Security Council earlier this year to discuss the continuing threat.
Although the “arria formula” meeting was little more than an opportunity to inform council members of concerns, the Marshall Islands had sent a strong message about the need for change.
“My country will be destroyed by climate change,” Minister Tony deBrum told the council. “It will be removed from the map by rising seas. Because it is happening inch by inch does not make the situation any less desperate, or any less urgent. This is an emergency.”
The minister described an islands’ current state as “destruction,” where water was rationed to an hour a day, three days a week and roads were regularly inundated during lunar tide cycles.
On the (Receding) Horizon: Minister deBrum said that his country will issue a “call to arms” for countries and corporations worldwide to take action to limit global warming to less than two degrees at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Summit in September.
Meanwhile, a 2011 petition by Palau asking the International Court of Justice to weigh in on the impacts of climate change on island nations as a human rights violation is still languishing.