Kiribati: “We Might Be the First Nation to Disappear, But Not the Last”
How many ears must a man have before he can hear people cry? --Bob Dylan
Talking with someone whose country is being destroyed by climate change—people and animals dying, communities swept away, future viability in doubt—is quite different from having a conversation about the challenges of climate adaptation. It’s emotional and visceral, not conceptual and detached. It’s overwhelming, frustrating, and ultimately depressing.
A few weeks ago I posted a short blog seeking information about cities that had considered “managed retreat” strategies to remove or prevent development in areas at high risk of climate disaster. Larry Falkin, head of Cincinnati’s Office of the Environment and Sustainability, suggested that I connect with Dr. Mike Roman, an American with adopted family from Kiribati (pronounced KIRR-i-bas). I had heard that the Republic of Kiribati--a South Pacific Ocean nation of 33 atolls and islands spread across a vast distance, and 110,000 citizens, freed from British colonial rule in 1979--had purchased land elsewhere for relocation of citizens, so I arranged a phone call with the potential source.
Mike Roman has gotten used to telling his story and Kiribati’s, because he organizes and participates in efforts to increase global awareness and response to the country’s existential climate crisis. He arrived in Kiribati in 2000 as a Peace Corps volunteer, left after his two-year stint was over, and returned numerous times while working on his Ph.D. and subsequent family reunions. “I was a volunteer who never really left.”
While there, he says, “I’ve seen climate change impacts. I have lived through king tide surges and cyclone seasons which have become stronger and more unpredictable. I’ve seen entire villages go under the ocean and never come back. I’ve seen drought take away land, crops, and groves of coconut trees. I’ve seen the aftermath of salinized water sources and people suffering from dehydration. Resulting, in worst cases, death."
Sea level rise is impacting Kiribati, but Mike says it is the changing weather patterns, from prolonged droughts to tropical cyclones, that pose the greatest danger. Because of climate changes, cyclones are starting to bear down on Central Pacific low-elevation islands, delivering high winds and storm surges. "Within hours they demolish everything." At the same time, Kiribati experiences prolonged droughts which kill the island's vegetation.
These emerging conditions and forecasts of sea level rise prompted Kiribati's national government, led in 2014 by then-president Anote Tong, to purchase 20 square kilometers--5,000 acres--of forest land in Fiji, 3,400 kilometers away, to be used initially for agricultural and fish-farming projects to secure Kiribati's access to food, but perhaps eventually for planned resettlement of people. The strategy was called "Migration with Dignity." But, Tong's successor, H.E. Taneti Maamau, has taken a different approach: "We don't believe that Kiribati will sink like the Titanic ship." His administration has been developing a 20-year plan to build up Kiribati's land, promote tourism, and attract foreign investors in eco-friendly resorts--generating money that can pay for climate resilience measures. So far, no one has moved to the land in Fiji.
"Do people want to stay or leave? If you talk to people," says Roman, "the majority want to stay." Many have a deep cosmological connection to the land. This connection is built into one’s identity and personhood. "You are born on your family’s land. You live on it. You start your own family on that land, and when you die you return to that land, to join your ancestors who watch over the land and its future inhabitants. Your identity is connected to your land, it is your past, present and future, your everything. There is a spiritual connection between people and the land. The word for land, aba, can also mean people and country. Land, country and people, you take away the land, you take away everything."
Mike Roman and a team of Kiribati youth have been active in telling Kiribati's story to the world through social media: "We want to tell our stories from Kiribati before we can’t anymore. We might be the first nation to disappear, but we surely will not be the last. The world is sadly ill prepared for this." With Kiribati friends, he began a social media campaign to spread the word about Kiribati. "Since 2015," he says, "Humans of Kiribati has gained attention from international media outlets, local journalists, movie producers, radio talk show hosts, foreign governments, and everyday people from all over the world." We hope to tell the world about the beautiful nation and people of Kiribati. We hope that the world will feel empathetic towards those living on the frontlines of climate change… and try to help as soon as possible."
More at www.anotesark.com and https://www.cbsnews.com/video/climate-refugees-nations-under-threat/
