Almost 7 years ago former president of Kiribati Anote Tong expressed his deep concern for the detrimental effects of climate change on the island country of Kiribati. His Ted talk interview with Chris Anderson can be viewed here Anote Tong: My country will be underwater soon -- unless we work together | TED Talk
Kiribati is an independent nation in the central Pacific Ocean, it currently has a population of 111, 796 (July 2020) which is 0.00001% of the world's population World Population Clock: 7.9 Billion People (2022) - Worldometer (worldometers.info)
As highlighted by his excellency Anote Tong in his Ted talk with Chris Anderson in 2015, due to rising sea levels, Kiribati is facing extinction. To make matters worse, rising sea levels are only a fraction of the hardships, the main issue is the unstable weather patterns brought about by human induced climate change.
Almost 7 years later, I decided to look into this issue to see what the sciences say.
According to the NASA Global Climate Change Committee, rising sea levels average 3.4mm per year Sea Level | Vital Signs – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet (nasa.gov). Kiribati is currently less than 2m above sea level. By doing a simple calculation it can be predicted if the sea level consistently rises at 3.4mm every year, after approximately 580 years, Kiribati will be fully submerged underwater. Kiribati thus loses 0.17% of its land every year.
More information can be found at Climate Change in Kiribati (arcgis.com)
To give readers a clearer picture, only 6 to 7 more generations of families can live on the island before the entire nation of Kiribati is extinct, but only if it were that simple.
Rising sea levels means a lot of coastal land is lost, the ever-growing population is thus squashed into the middle of the island. Because the main food source on the island is Fish and home-grown vegetables, food becomes scarce.
Migration is definitely a solution, however, as noted by Anote Tong, once families have migrated to a different country, cultural identity is diluted, and family traditions forgotten.
As sad as it is, one can conclude that the Island Country of Kiribati is fighting a losing a battle. Migration due to rising sea level will most probably see the extinction of the Kiribati culture before the island itself is submerged into the Pacific Ocean.
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