Tuvalu Prime Minister Kausea Natano is rushing to raise his tiny island nation from drowning by lifting it 13 to 16 feet (4 to 5 metres) above sea level by land reclamation, while world leaders from wealthier countries recognise the ‘existential threat’ of climate change.
While experts issue warnings about the eventual uninhabitability of the Marshall Islands, President David Kabua must reconcile the inequity of a seawall built to protect one house that is now flooding another one next door.
That is the reality of climate change: While some people get to observe it from a distance, others are forced to live it.
On the eve of the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, Natano and Kabua attempted to illustrate this reality.
They joined forces to form the Rising Nations Initiative, a global alliance designed to protect the rights, sovereignty, and cultural traditions of Pacific atoll island nations, whose very survival has been imperilled by climate change.
According to Natano, everything has been affected by rising sea levels, from the soil that his people use to grow their crops to the homes, roads, and power lines that are washed away. He claimed that the expense of scraping by finally becomes intolerable, leading to families leaving and the disappearance of the entire country.
‘This is how a Pacific atoll dies,’ Natano said. ‘This is how our islands will cease to exist.’
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