The Courier

Pacific islands face up to destruction caused by the tsunami in Choiseul Province.

© Robert Iroga

“The developing countries of the Pacific Islands are responsible for just 0.03% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. Yet these countries are expected to be among the earliest and hardest hit by the effects of climate change over the next two centuries.” That was the conclusion reached back in 2001 by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group charged by the United Nations to assist countries affiliated to the International Convention on the scientific aspects of climate change.

By last year (2007), the IPCC’s report was more specific. It stated that, “On small islands, the deterioration in coastal conditions is expected to, inter alia, affect local resources like fishing and also reduce the value of these destinations for tourism. Rising sea-levels are expected to increase flooding, storm surge, erosion and other coastal issues. And this will, in turn, threaten vital infrastructure, towns and villages and facilities that support the livelihood of island communities. Furthermore, climate change will reduce water resources on many small islands, (especially in the Caribbean and Pacific), to the point where they are insufficient to meet demand during low rainfall periods.”

Climate refugees

Tiny rocks thrown up and dispersed in the ocean by volcanic activity, most Pacific Islands are coral reefs that scarcely rise above sea level. Indeed, many actually lie below sea level like the Republic of Kiribati that consists of three archipelagos, 32 atolls and one isolated island. The highest point on Kiribati is Banaba, at just 81 metres. Similarly, Tuvalu, an island nation in Polynesia, has eight atolls and its highest point lies a mere 4.5 metres above sea level. Half of its 11,363 inhabitants occupy land less than 3 metres high.

Climate change makes high tides – up to 3 metres above the normal level – increasingly common, making Tuvalu the first country in the world where people have had to abandon their land to escape flooding. Kiribati and Vanuatu are also having to rehouse populations affected by coastal erosion and rising sea levels. According to a UN report, this forced migration “implies an urgent need for coordinated plans, at regional and international level, to rehouse the threatened communities and to put into place a series of political, legal and financial measures.”

In the face of these unstoppable rises in sea levels (as well as an increased number of hurricanes*) the European Commission has created the ACP-EU Natural Disaster Facility. [There are other funds earmarked for the same cause.]. Indeed, Asterio Takesu, Director of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), reports that the EU has already allocated €200M to assist with adapting to climate change and €150M to drawing national action plans.

The SPREP is an intergovernmental organization responsible for promoting cooperation, supporting efforts to protect and improve the Pacific Island environment and encouraging sustainable development. The SPREP’s 25 member states include the four developed countries with direct interests in the region (France, New Zealand, Australia and the United States) and the 21 island nations and territories of the Pacific. They comprise the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Guam, Cook Islands, Northern Marianne Islands, Marshall Islands, Salomon Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, New Caledonia, Palaos, Papua New Guinea, French Polynesia, Samoa, American Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna.

Ecosystems in danger

Espen Ronneberg, who is responsible for climate issues at the SPREP, views the Pacific as having a mix of challenges due to its topography, a limited ability to cope with environmental changes and a shortage of local skills. He believes that although there is a scientific consensus on the greenhouse effect and the reality of climate change, nobody really knows whether global temperatures will continue to rise. Ronneberg’s concern is that, although coral reefs and island ecosystems can adapt naturally within certain limits, nobody yet knows what happens when these limits are quickly reached.

One example of this is the mangroves - a precious ecosystem that is also of great economic value. According to a study financed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (“Pacific Island Mangroves in a Changing Climate and Rising Sea” – 2006), almost 13% of the Pacific mangroves are in danger of disappearing, with those on the islands of Fiji and Samoa at most risk. In this report, Kitty Simonds, Executive Director, Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, explains that “due to the mangrove wetlands’ functional links with other Pacific Island coastal ecosystems, and the important contribution of mangroves to nearshore fisheries production, the governments and local communities of the Pacific Islands must act now to ensure the sustainability of the mangrove ecosystems.”

Simonds adds, “as part of that, the Council has already begun to replace its existing Fishery Management Plans with integrated ecosystem-based plans for each island archipelago. The results and recommendations stemming from this study are contributing to the development of these new place-based Fishery Ecosystem Plans.”

(*) including Hurricane Val that devastated the island of Samoa in 2001, leaving 13 dead and causing damage estimated at 230% of the GDP.

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Pacific Islands face up to global warming
EU and ACP countries seek “adaptation strategies”