The nation of Kiribati is comprised of 33 islands, 20 inhabited, across the central West Pacific spanning both Melanesia and Polynesia. It includes the Gilbert Islands, the Line Islands and the Phoenix group, has a total area of approximately 811 km2/313 mi2 and a population of slightly over 121,000. The government is seated in three villages on the island of Tarawa, one for the executive (President Taneti Maamau), one for the legislative and one for the judiciary.
Map of Kiribati and other West and South Pacific nations.
Kiribati averages 2 m above sea level, and some climate models show the country becoming uninhabitable by 2100. The country’s climate change policy--published since President Maamau’s election--takes a clearly activist posture, and identifies adaptation and financing as its primary tasks. The plan is multifaceted, including aspects such as education, water, coastal protection and energy. One aspect in which the current administration differs strongly from the previous, Anote Tong’s, is in mitigation versus migration.
An island in Kiribati.
Tong’s strategy was “migration with dignity”. During his term Kiribati bought an island in Fiji where Kiribati citizens could begin moving. Maamau has rejected that approach in favor of physically building the Kiribati islands up, and he favors also building up a large tourist industry there, partly to finance ongoing adaptation efforts.
The plan is grandiose and demonstrates the vise which
climate change and sea-level rise has placed island nations in: essentially,
fight or flight, with nothing like a guarantee that the “fight” is remotely
winnable. Setting aside the financial and practical considerations, it’s a very
open question whether moving sediment from one part of the island system (the lagoon)
to another (the island) is a viable strategy.
Tomorrow: an important aside: intro to coastal
geomorphology.
Be brave, and be well.
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