Losing ground

REBECCA TODD

The 32 atolls of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean make up one of the lowest-lying countries in the world. It's seen as the "canary in the coalmine" for the problems climate change is about to create. REBECCA TODD visited and files this report.

Thousands of pieces of coral, bleached white by the scorching sun, are piled outside Totibure Clarence's tiny wooden hut.

She, her husband and five children regularly collect it from the reef when the tides are out, ready to patch up their sea wall for when the waves will crash in and destroy it once more. 

Clarence, 45, moved to the tip of south Tarawa about a decade ago to escape the overcrowding of Kiribati's main town, Betio.

When she first arrived, there were no sea walls at this end of the atoll and no need for them.

By 2005, the family regularly had waves crashing through their makeshift home at high tide and, like many others in the area, started building a wall.

Along with the repair work, the family are painstakingly building it higher.

Sitting barefoot in a traditional open-sided wooden shelter, Clarence points out to the endless blue sea.

"There's a lot of changes with the sea level; it's come up really high, " she says through an interpreter.

"When I first came here, there was an island out to sea and it's no longer there."

Clarence believes she may one day have to send her children away, but says she will always live on Kiribati and trusts in God to keep her safe.

"I want to stay here because I have no place else to go, " she says.

"I leave things in the hands of God. If I have to die here, let it be."

Disappearing islands and encroaching seas are just some of the signs of a changing climate visible on Kiribati's atolls.

Further down the coast from Clarence's home, dead coconut trees are strewn across the sand. Erosion has loosened the roots of these important sources of food, causing them to crash into the ocean. Others have died during recent long periods of drought.

Another crucial source of food is slowly being killed as salty waves infect the taro pits, dug deep into the ground to reach fresh water.

Whole communities have already been overtaken by the sea, forcing families to move further and further inland.

Within 50 years, the population of this fragile nation is expected to reach 150,000. If the most drastic predictions of sea level rise come to pass, they may have no ground beneath their feet.

A Kiribati delegation has headed to climate change talks in Copenhagen with two aims: to convince world leaders to commit to a significant reduction in emissions and to get them to pledge significant funding to enable countries such as Kiribati to implement adaptation measures.

The country could hardly ask for a better spokesman than President Anote Tong to put their case to the world. Despite being in the throes of a hectic first day of a parliamentary session, the president makes time for an interview on an "emotional issue" that is close to his heart.

Almost regal in his perfectly groomed appearance and mild manner, Tong speaks passionately about the challenges facing his country and the help it will need.

"There's no question that we will need partnership in this, " he says.

"It has to be a collective approach and there has to be some responsibility taken on board by those who are responsible and commitments towards providing adaptation resources."

Though Kiribati is bearing the brunt of global warming now, it is a problem that all nations will eventually be forced to face.

"We are on the front line; in fact, we are already down. There will be others on the front line, " he says.

"There are those who enjoy a very substantial standard of living at the moment. That's not entirely free of cost. There's a big challenge for humanity here and the question is, how will they respond?" he asks.

Tong says his country is looking at a mixture of adaptation and migration.

The Government even looked at buying land in another country to resettle its people. Understandably, potential sellers were not so enthusiastic about the idea.

With established Kiribati populations and a history of interaction, New Zealand and Australia top the list for where most Kiribati people would like to live.

Thousands of people apply each year to join New Zealand's annual quota of 75 Kiribati people.

But with a population on the atolls of nearly 100,000 and growing, the mass move to higher ground will require a much bigger commitment from the international community.

"If New Zealand should choose to increase the quota, why not?"

Key to government policy is avoiding Kiribati people becoming the world's first environmental refugees. Tong wants New Zealand and Australia to help upskill his people so they can migrate with heads held high.

"All we are saying is to provide us with the resources to upskill our people so we can migrate with merit, not as refugees, " he says.

"I'm talking about my own grandchildren. I'm trying to imagine where they will be, what they will be doing. What country will they be in? What language they will be speaking?" he says.

"We really don't want to think about it. The natural reaction is to deny it and a lot of people do that, but I have recognised this for quite a long time - the real possibility that we don't have a choice, " he says.

"I was depressed and angry in my early debates to the UN, but you can't afford to do this. You have to provide the leadership that's needed to take the country through one of the most difficult challenges they have to face."

Paul Craig is project manager of the NZ$8.3 million Kiribati Adaptation Project (Kap) funded by NZAid, AusAid and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Like many foreign workers in this country, he is found having dinner at Mary's restaurant.

The ambitious project - described as the "firstborn of a new generation of practical climate change adaptation projects" - was set up in late 2006 but was quickly found to have too wide a scope. Its focus has been narrowed to look primarily at water resource management and coastal resilience.

Kiwi Niwa scientists are helping local scientists interpret the global climate change models to try to predict what will happen to the low- lying country.

"The important thing is that the country is very vulnerable and I think it's beginning to move from being a victim to saying, yes, we are vulnerable and we are doing something about it, but we are going to need substantial external help, " Craig says, between mouthfuls of beef in black bean sauce.

Local data is used to estimate future rainfall patterns, periods of drought, tidal storm surges and sea level rise.

It shows that if the world could limit a global temperature rise to only 1.5 degrees Celsius, the flooding of Kiribati's largest settlement, Betio, would be delayed by 30 to 40 years.

But the reality for Kiribati's people is that by the time the sea reclaims the land, it will already be too late.

In a rough warehouse building housing the Ministry of Public Works, Australian Sister Marella Rebgetz's office is littered with crudely cut rainwater collection bottles.

Rebgetz says rising sea levels and urbanisation are causing salination and pollution of the underground water "lens". The country's main water supply comes from a freshwater pool delicately balanced on top of the sea water under the atoll.

"If the lens disappears, the country will become unliveable, " she says.

"I would say water is the biggest problem in Kiribati and related to that is a clean supply. Kiribati has one of the highest rates of diarrhoeal illnesses in the Pacific."

The Kap project is looking at pipe leakage, which at the moment is at 50 per cent, and rainwater harvesting. It is also training local people to monitor salination levels and analyse the data to better manage the resource.

"If we give them an extra 20 years, even another generation, that would be success and that's possible, " Rebgetz says.

Nearby, in the office of the president, a whirring fan does little to disturb the clinging heat but does not seem to bother Secretary to the President Betarim Rimon.

His office switched off its airconditioning units in March and other government departments are following suit.

The Government is also planting mangroves to reduce sea erosion and absorb carbon.

"Our emissions are very low, but still it's an emission and we have to acknowledge that and we want to reduce that, " he says.

Rimon says it is important for Kiribati not to go to Copenhagen with its hands out begging. Instead, he wants to show they too are making their contribution to reduce global warming.

"When you are confronted with a beggar, you jump away, " he says.

"We have short-term and medium-term strategies, but these are quite costly."

Evidence of a move towards solar power is already evident across the atolls.

On North Tarawa, gleaming solar panels lean against wooden huts, roughly connected to batteries that power lights and other appliances during the night.

In a small village, Maungatabu Kaureata sits cross-legged against the smooth wooden pole of the traditional meeting house, or maneaba.

The 65 year old's hazy eyes have seen many changes during his time, but he fears the brackish drinking water and a drop in the fish population will spell the end for his country.

"We are very scared, but we have nowhere else to go, " he says.

- © Fairfax NZ News