MAJURO, Marshall Islands, Feb 23, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The far-flung Marshall
Islands needs to raise its islands if it is to avoid being drowned by rising
sea levels, President Hilda Heine has warned.
Plans are underway for national talks on which of the 1,156 islands,
scattered over 29 coral atolls, can be elevated in a dramatic intervention to
ensure safety on the islands.
“Raising our islands is a daunting task but one that must be done,” Heine
said in an interview with the Marshall Islands Journal published Friday.
“We need the political will, and especially traditional leaders’
commitment, to see this through.
“We must come together as a nation as this is about our survival as a
nation, as a people and as a culture.”
A “climate crisis” policy document prepared by the office of the chief
secretary painted a bleak outlook for the Pacific Ocean archipelago with a
population of 55,000.
It cited an increasing frequency of “inundation events, severe droughts,
coral bleaching events, and… looking forward, there is very good reason to
believe that conditions and prospects for survival will only worsen.”
Most of the islands are less than two metres (6.5 feet) above sea level and
the government believes physically raising the islands was the only way to
save the Marshall Islands from extinction.
They have not yet outlined specifics of how this would be achieved expect
to have plans formulated by the end of the year.
In the meantime, they are keeping a close watch on the ambitious City of
Hope project on an artificial island in the Maldives as a viable option.
To lay the foundations of the city — which is expected to accommodate
130,000 people when completed in 2023 — sand is being pumped onto reefs from
surrounding atolls and it is being fortified with walls three metres above
sea level, which will make it higher than the tallest natural island in the
Maldives.
“Whatever approach is selected, it will involve selecting islands to raise,
add to, or build upon” Heine said.
“All Marshallese stakeholders, but especially traditional landowners, need
to be at the forefront of this discussion if we are ever going to move the
conversation forward.”
The Marshall Islands also aims to increase engagement with the three other
all-atoll nations — Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Maldives — on climate issues.
“As a group, the atoll nations need to come together to formulate their
unique concerns and develop their positions and plans and identify financial
needs related to climate impacts,” said Heine, who chairs the Coalition of
Atoll Nations Against Climate Change.