Kiribati: not waving but drowning
Grupo Gavilán
Kiribati, sent a warning to the governments of Australia and New
Zealand. Tong told the two most developed nations in the South
Pacific, the same geographic region in which his island country is
located, that within the next decade they could expect a massive
influx of his fellow citizens. "If we are talking about our island
states submerging in ten years time, we simply have to find somewhere
else to go," he said.
Tong was speaking at the annual South Pacific forum in Fiji, where a
key item on the agenda was global warming and rising sea levels.
Kiribati is understood to be at immediate risk from thermal expansion,
which causes glacial meltdown, and may be the first country to
disappear entirely beneath the waves as a result of climate change.
So how concerned should Australians and New Zealanders be about Tong’s
promise of a mass exodus? Not very, given that the population of
Kiribati – according to a 2009 United Nations estimate – is only
99,000, one of the world’s smallest. Also, perhaps heartened by the
constructive response of Australia and New Zealand to the crisis, the
government of Kiribati has now begun looking to other rich nations for
assistance.
As Agence France-Presse reported in December 2009, Tong’s government
is hoping to establish small Kiribati communities around the world
before its islands are deluged by seawater.
“If Australia and New Zealand [do it], why can't other developed
countries do it too?” said Betarim Rimon, Tong’s secretary, with
reference to a scheme already in place – Kiribati citizens are
currently being trained as nurses in Australia and New Zealand, with
the option to work and live in the two countries once their training
is complete.
Kiribati, a former British colony known as the Gilbert Islands, first
came to the attention of the world in 1997, when its then-president
Teburoro Tito fulfilled a campaign promise and moved the international
date line – which had until then bisected the islands – far to the
east. The move meant two things: first, it would never be “today” on
one Kiribati island and “tomorrow” on another; and second, Kiribati
would be the first nation on Earth to celebrate the new millennium.
“Kiribati officials hope to bring cruise ships to Caroline Island, an
uninhabited speck that is the easternmost land in Kiribati, but to
focus onshore festivities on Christmas Island, which has a population
of 3,500,” the New York Times observed after Tito’s action. “The
challenge is that Kiribati does not know a great deal about tourism.
It gets only about 4,000 visitors a year, making it one of the least-
visited countries in the world. Hawaii gets as many visitors in six
hours as Kiribati does in a year.”
In the event, the millennium party on Kiribati went swimmingly.
Caroline Island was renamed Millennium Island, and all the major news
networks broadcast images of grass-skirted dancers on its tropical
beaches welcoming in the new era.
President Tito, Tong’s predecessor, had the honour of being the first
state leader in the world to publicly say hello to the third
millennium. Tong’s honour, if he retains the presidency, could be less
auspicious. He may be the first state leader in the world to publicly
say goodbye to his sunken country.
http://www.thedailymaverick.co.za/article/2010-02-17-kiribati-not-waving-but-drowning