Rising seas threaten island nations
Thirty-nine island countries are bringing their concerns, which are real and immediate
Some of the effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels, may seem like a faraway problem for most people, but for those living in island countries, the threat is real and immediate.
The second day of the Paris climate talks offered a sense of what the most vulnerable island and coastal residents are feeling, based on a United Nations-backed survey of 852 households on the central Pacific islands of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu.
More than two-thirds of households in Kiribati and Tuvalu said family members would likely migrate to higher ground, or quite possibly another country, if flooding got worse. But overall, just as many lack the money they would need to make such a move. In other words, they feel trapped. “Pacific islanders are facing the brunt of climate change impacts and are increasingly finding themselves with few options,” said Enele Sosene Sopoaga, Tuvalu’s prime minister.
Already, an estimated 15 per cent of people from Tuvalu have migrated over the past 10 years, and researchers expect that number will double by 2055.
U.S. President Barack Obama met with some of the leaders of island nations Tuesday to express his concern for their plight. If anyone can relate it may be Obama, who grew up on the islands of Hawaii and Indonesia. “I’m an island boy,” he told a group that included leaders of the Maldives and Fiji.
But it’s unclear how far the United States and other developed countries are willing to go to help islands countries pay for climate-related damages and mass migration efforts if, and when, it becomes necessary.
That’s certainly what these countries, represented by the 39-member Alliance of Small Island States, are asking for. After all, the alliance ar- gues, their states didn’t cause the climate problem in the first place. By their reasoning, developed countries have a moral obligation to pick up the bill — and then some.
They’re also pushing for international commitments that will hold average global warming to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels — compared to the more commonly dis- cussed target of 2 C — even though many scientists believe enough carbon has been released into the atmosphere to carry us past 1.5 C.
Either way, the outcome isn’t good. The International Cryosphere Climate Initiative recently reported that an average temperature rise of 1.6 C could trigger “irreversible” melt of the Greenland ice sheet.
Some islands are more vulnerable than others. Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and the Maldives are all examples of dangerously low-lying territories expecting to be mostly underwater by the end of the century, barring extreme adaptation measures. To make a point, leading up to the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit, the president of Maldives and 10 of his ministers put on wet suits and scuba gear and held a half-hour cabinet meeting in the Indian Ocean.
The average Maldives citizen emits less than one-fifth the GHG emissions of the average American, and the country itself represent just 0.01 per cent of global emissions.
Obama has talked about backing a “risk insurance” scheme that would help these countries recover after a disaster; the U.S. is also behind a Green Climate Fund that offers financial assistance to developing countries trying to wean themselves from fossil fuels. But paying to right past wrongs — that is, as a way to accept blame for dumping GHG emissions into the atmosphere over the past century — has been resisted by developed countries.
This article is part of a series produced in partnership by the Toronto Star and Tides Canada, in an effort to increase public awareness and dialogue around the impacts of climate change. The Toronto Star has full editorial control.