The Sinking Nation of Kiribati

Abstract

Because of rising sea levels from global warming, the entire population of the small, low-lying central Pacific island state of Kiribati will need to relocate to a distant land. In Kiribati President Anote Tong’s words, “We need to begin [the migration process] now ... because [we] will either be dead or drown.” Climate change seriously impacts 325 million people, kills 300,000 people, and costs the world $125 billion every year. By the year 2100, global average sea levels may rise up to 1.9 meters, wiping out low-lying island nations, making large parts of Bangladesh uninhabitable, and increasing the chance that major coastal cities like New York will flood. Forty-three small island countries are particularly vulnerable to rising sea-levels, and some, like Kiribati, may end up entirely underwater. Kiribati, which sits only 6.5 feet above sea level on average, is particularly vulnerable to wholenation displacement, as rising sea levels would render most of it uninhabitable. Because fewer than a quarter of residents have jobs, most I-Kiribati (Kiribati citizens) depend on employed relatives and foreign aid.6 Kiribati’s 95,000 inhabitants suffer from significant overcrowding, low incomes, poor sanitation, and severe pollution. As sea levels continue to rise, Kiribati will run out of fresh drinking water and become uninhabitable long before the islands are submerged. The country will eventually face widespread population displacement and de facto statelessness, and Kiribati may no longer have a permanent population. Other countries should help I-Kiribati transition to life in a new nation-state by giving these displaced people an opportunity to pursue an education and acquire work skills and by according them the same rights as permanent residents in that nation. The international community should aid Kiribati in tackling the effects of climate change by providing more affordable loans and grants to Kiribati; coordinating humanitarian and emergency relief efforts in times of displacement; and helping I-Kiribati relocate to ensure that their human rights are protected.