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Pacific islanders fight climate change

22 July 2013

Provinces in the Pacific are raising their voices to see urgent action taken to save their islands and their livelihoods.

The Anglican Alliance is spearheading preparations for the G20 summit in Brisbane, to provide a platform for the Pacific to make their desperate needs known to the 20 richest and most powerful countries in the world.

A recent roundtable discussion held in Nadi, Fiji, heard significant data indicating a sea level rise of 8mm per year since 1993, compared to a global average of 3-4mm. 

Temperatures have also risen by 0.4-1°C across the Pacific, with sea acidification destroying plant and animal life and severely restricting the food and income available to local villages.Villagers resettle in Kohingo island

Repi Island  is just one of the islands affected by the change.  Three clans have lived on this island for more than forty years, until frequent salt water floods began to salinate wells, destroy crops, flood homes and erode shorelines.

In attempts to adapt, individuals built buffers to provide protection from the waves and used rocks and coconut husks to raise their homes.

However reduced land availability and overcrowding led to the clans relocation to neighbouring island, Kohingo. 

With many families already paddling for almost an hour daily to reach Kohingo, fetching water and using the land for crops, the communities decided to leave their homes and settle on the larger island.

Left unassisted by provincial and national governments, villagers arrived at Kohingo Island with nowhere to live and no livelihood.

However, they have now been able to secure land for future generations, and are safe from the climate-related hardships they faced on Repi Island.

Homes, churches and schools have been built and the villagers now have land to develop as their own.

Fertile soil has also multiplied crop growth and diversity, and nearby streams  provide fresh drinking water.  

Anglican Provinces in the Pacific face great challenges as they seek to safeguard their communities and their environment, and protect the livelihoods of the people they serve.

It is hoped that the voice of the islanders will be heard at the G20 and that more will be done to assist villagers as they face the ongoing threats of climate change.

 

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