PAPUA NEW GUINEA: ATOLLS HIT BY RISING SEA LEVEL
BBC Monitoring Service
Sep 4, 2000
Communities on Bougainville's atoll islands most threatened by
rising sea levels are calling on the provincial government to
assist in resettling them. Amongst the outer atolls of
Mortlock,Nuguria, Tasman, Nissan and Carterets groups, the latter
are the worse affected. Since the 1960s the Carterets group has
slowly but surely been undergoing the effects of the global
warming commonly known as the greenhouse effect. In this light
the shorelines of the atoll islands have been washed away at an
alarming rate by rising seas and by the way things are going, the
islanders fear that in the next five to 10 years some of the
atolls will be no more.
The main islands of the Carterets group include Han, the
largest, Piul, Huene, Iolasa, Iosela and Iangain. `The
Independent'could not obtain - among other much needed
information - a figure on the population of the Carterets group,
but a rough guess would be over 2,000 people. The islands are an
eight-hours boat ride from Buka. Prior to the crisis, the
Bougainville provincial government had a resettlement programme
where Carteret Islanders from the most affected atolls were
resettled at Kuveria near Mabiri in central Bougainville.
However, they returned home to the islands when
the troubles on the mainland worsened in 1990, only to find that
they are in a far worse scenario than before. A huge tidal wave
struck the islands in 1995, washing away greater parts of the
shoreline.
Garden food crops were affected and destroyed after the tide
left pools of salty water inland.
The National Disaster and Emergency Service [NDES] and the
Bougainville administration assisted the people with relief
supplies and it continues to do so when the situation worsens.
But for how long, the people are asking. They say the problem
will not go away but is worsening and they fear very much for
their lives...
[One islander told the paper:] "I come from Han Island and the
situation there now is that erosion is occurring from both
sides and the island is getting narrow. It is not happening only
in Han but in Piul, where the problem is worsening and many
families are leaving. On Huene, the island is divided into half
now and there is a wide passage in the middle. Four families only
are left while most have left for the other atolls such as
Iolasa. The situation on Iolasa, Iosela and Iangain islands is
such that when high seas occur, they stand below sea level and
this is very frightening...
"My people are very worried and we are asking authorities to
find us a place on the mainland to resettle permanently and also
for the people to accept us... "Food shortage is a reality on
the affected atolls and most times, they survive on fish,
seaweeds and coconuts. When the situation gets bad, NDES sends
relief food supplies but because the problem is an ongoing one,
the cycle starts all over again..."
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