South Pacific's Tuvalu Island Confronts Climate Crisis
Of all countries with an interest in addressing climate change at the upcoming climate conference in Cancun, Mexico, no one stand to lose more than the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu. Scientists say its low elevation and
Afraid of not opening a dangerous precedent for itself, New Zealand agreed to create an immigration program for Tuvaluans, but made it clear that the initiative was not based on environmental issue, but an ancient link between the two countries.
The caveat is logical. No government wants to commit to become the savior of nations flooded.
Thus, if in the future anyone has similar problem, no point thinking about asking getaway to New Zealand.
While Tuvalu is the first country whose people will be forced to flee because of rising sea levels, your problem is not the only, nor the most complicated.
The logistics to move up to 11 thousand people is simple, but what will be done when the tide reaches other islands, with up to 2 million residents? In a recent article in the American environmentalist Lester Brown warned that the Maldives, with 310 000 inhabitants already living a drama similar in most of its 1,200 islands.
According to Brown, the 1-meter rise in sea level would end up with half the rice paddies of Bangladesh, more than a third of Shanghai under water and seriously affect populations of river floodplains of China, India, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam .
Neither the United States are safe. With such a rise of the sea, the country, which is the main opponent of international protocol to reduce emissions, may lose 36,000 kilometers square of land.
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