“Fiji will ensure that the people of Kiribati have a home if their
country is submerged by the rising sea level as a result of climate change.”
President of the Republic of Fiji, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau. Kiribati is expected to be submerged by
2030 if the current rate of sea
level rise continues.
Picture this:
nary a child nor an adult with a device in hand. A tablet is a notebook
of paper—when you can get one. There was internet for a while—last year—but it
is gone now. No electricity,
except what a couple of generators can produce, and no running water. Homes are
corrugated metal and/or thatch.
You eat what you can grow or catch, or what may be brought in on one of
the seven ships that stop here during the course of a year. Only a handful of
motorized vehicles, and a few bicycles, can be found.
This is the island known to us as Fanning Island, and to the
locals as Tabuaeran. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati (pronounced kee-ree-bahs),
a group of 32 atolls and one island made of guano, in the south Pacific. It
became Fanning Island to the West because of Edmund Fanning , an American
captain who made the first recorded sighting of the atoll in 1798. The island
was uninhabited at time. It was
annexed to Britain in 1888, and became independent as part of Republic of
Kiribati in 1979.
So how did a cruise ship wind up stopping at this island of
fewer than 2,000 inhabitants?
Another cruise line that runs cruises through the Hawaiian Islands used
to stop here to meet regulations that require that any non-U.S. flagged ship
must sail internationally, which means that at least on non-U.S. port. Fanning Island was the closest place it
could find. However, now that ship
has become U.S.-flagged and no longer needs to make that stop. When it ceased calling at the island in
2007, it essentially destroyed the externally-based economy that it had created.
In January 2010, other ships
started to make it a stop on Pacific crossings to help make up for the loss. But only four cruise ships stop each
year. Add to this three supply
ships per year, and you see that this island gets outside contact only seven
times each year.
A typical home on the
island.
It is not a place that feels impoverished—just a simpler
life than what we know. The people
we met were exceptionally friendly and curious about these visitors, just as we
were curious about their lives.
The school day had been cut short because of our visit, as many of the
children lined the “main street” (a dirt path) to greet and talk to the
visitors. Their mothers lined the
port to provide a makeshift craft shop, selling primarily woven baskets and
shell jewelry.
The sad and shocking part of all this is that this life is
on the verge of coming to an end.
The atolls of the Republic of Kiribati are all at sea level, and as
ocean levels continue to rise, it is estimated that most of the nation,
including Tabuaeran, will be completely submerged in the coming two decades,
with many rendered uninhabitable before then due to overly-salinated drinking
water.
While most of the islands are not without modern amenities
the way that Tabuaeran is, their lives are much simpler than where they are
likely to wind up. If they find a
place to wind up. The President of
Kiribati has completed a purchase of land in Fiji that will hold some of the
people, but it is not clear what will happen, immigration-wise. But this land
will not be a transplanted nation of Kiribati; it will be part of Fiji.
And, for the Tabuaeranians, a way of life will be gone
forever.
Next up: crossing the equator.
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