Pacific Islands. Climate change and vulnerability
Reports from Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands and Fiji
The width of the main Tuvalu Island in the atoll of Funafuti.
© Hegel Goutier
The Pacific is without a doubt one of the world’s most vulnerable regions when it comes to risk of disaster due to climate change, particularly several of the low-lying coral islands. Indeed, one of them, Tuvalu, has become a symbol of this threat. An ability to survive when challenged by nature is common to other small volcanic islands lying along the “Ring of Fire”. It encompasses nations like the Solomon Islands which suffered the ravages of a tsunami triggered by an earthquake last April, which left dozens dead and tens of thousands homeless. Not surprisingly, the populations of these threatened islands are angry at the reluctance of some rich nations, to reduce emissions held to be largely responsible for the pollution at the origin of climate change. An attitude described graphically by one politician from Tuvalu, as a “creeping terrorism” now threatening his country.
Pacific Islands. Climate change and vulnerability
Tuvalu, a worldwide symbol
Living in constant fear of climate change
A dynamic civil society
Tsunami on the Solomon Islands
All vulnerable: The tyranny of distance and the Ring of Fire
Pacific Islands face up to global warming
EU and ACP countries seek “adaptation strategies”
