Young girl watches sea
sweep into her family's land.
09/02/2005 — Less than a week before the
Kyoto Protocol enters into force, the tiny
island nation of Kiribati is ravished by
a 'king tide' -- an example of the kind
of sea-level rise we can expect to see more
of as global temperatures increase.
Thousands of people living on the low-lying
atoll of Kiribati (pronounced keer-ree-bahss)
in the central Pacific were hit by waves
that reached 2.87 metres (9 and a half feet)
today. Farmland was swept out to sea and
fresh water wells contaminated. Betio Hospital
in the south of the island was flooded when
waves breached sea defence walls.
"Just a week before the Kyoto Protocol
enters into force, this serves as a stark
reminder that climate change is upon us
and governments must go way beyond the emissions
cuts outlined in the treaty," said
our climate campaigner, Stephanie Tunmore.
The 33 coral atolls that make up Kiribati
are strung across two million square miles
of the Pacific. They are particularly vulnerable
to rising sea levels caused by greenhouse
gases warming the oceans.
As the seas continue to rise, the 92,000
people who live there could be forced to
emigrate, together with tens of millions
of other people in low-lying island and
coastal communities around the globe.
The pollution which causes global warming
has reached dangerous levels and scientists
have warned that low-lying islands face
permanent inundation from rising seas. To
save coastal communities and islands like
Kiribati, governments must act to penalise
polluters and invest heavily in clean energy
sources in order to reduce emissions.
