CLIMATE CHANGE AND ISLANDS

Impacts on Island Morphology

1. Coastal and/or island erosion
2. Coastal and/or island accretion
3. Flooding and marine inundation
4. Dela, river, estuary, floodplain changes
5. Coastal landslides, cliffs and hillslope changes.

Impacts on ecosystems and natural resources

1. Coral and reef damage
2. Damage to mangroves and coastal wetlands
3. Soil salination from inundation
4. Saline intrusion into freshwater lenses.

Impacts on Island livelihoods

1. Damage to or destruction of subsistence crops
2. Losses in commercial agriculture
3. Decrease in fish production
4. Damage to and losses in aquaculture
5. Losses in tourism sector.

Impacts on settlements and infrastructure

1. Destruction of buildings and houses
2. Damage to transport facilities (roads, ports, airports)
3. Damage to public facilities (water supply, energy generation)
4. Damage to health and safety infrastructure
5. Damage to cultural assets

Islands at risk

Around the world, many islands are slowly but surely being submerged. And though it may seem like a slow process, it could very well cause several islands throughout the world to be completely gone before the 21st century is over.

1. Carteret Islands: The Carteret Islands are located in the south-west Pacific Ocean and is home to about 2,500 people. High tides have inundated the islands, destroying crops, wells, and homes.
2. Cook Islands: The Cook Islands off of New Zealand are another set of islands affected by rising sea levels. With a predicted increase in ocean levels of up to 55 centimeters by the year 2090, the rising waters are expected to damage roads, bridges, ports and runways, which will affect residents and tourism.
3. Fiji: The Pacific Islands of Fiji are also low-lying and vulnerable to changes in ocean levels. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change indicates that the village of Vunidogoloa was the first to begin relocating because of the rapid sea level rise, which is continuing to worsen. Over the last few decades, some villages have reported a loss of 15-20 meters of shoreline due to loss of mangroves. Sea levels are expected to rise up to 43 centimeters by 2050. Rise in ocean temperatures also affect the coral reefs, resulting in coral bleaching that turns the coral white and vulnerable to disease.
4. French Polynesia:  French Polynesia is made up of popular tropical retreats like Bora Bora, Tahiti, and the Society Islands. 30 percent of its islands will be taken over by water by the end of the century. As an alternative to moving to a new country, the government is considering building “floating islands” for residents near Tahiti with hopes of attracting tech companies to the concept.
5. Kiribati: Kiribati is about halfway between Hawaii and Australia and is made up of 32 low-lying atolls and one raised island. Most of its population has already moved to one island, Tarawam, after the rest of their land disappeared beneath the ocean. The country will become uninhabitable by 2050. In addition to rising sea levels, ocean pollution is a serious problem.
6. Maldives: The Maldives, consisting of over 1,100 islands to the west of India, is the world’s lowest-lying nation. On average the islands are only 1.3 meters above sea level. The 325,000 (plus 100,000 expatriate workers) residents of the islands are threatened by rising see levels. A rise of just three feet would submerge the Maldives and make them uninhabitable.
7. Marshall Islands: The Marshall Islands is a group of islands halfway between Hawaii and Australia. Water levels are rising at the rate of 7 millimeters per year and is about double the global average. Water levels are due to continue to rise by 7.5 inches by 2030, increasing storm surge and coastal flooding.
8. Micronesia: Micronesia is made up of 607 mountainous islands and low-lying coral atolls located 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. Its mere 270 square miles of land are filled with mountains, mangroves, lagoons and beaches.  Due to increasing sea levels, the nation has seen several islands disappear while others have been severely reduced in size. The islands have a population of 102,624. The ocean water is also killing off food crops. A small one meter rise would make the island unhabitable.
9. Palau: Palau consists of eight principal islands and more than 250 smaller ones, about 500 miles southeast of the Philippines. Their population of 20,000 is being threatened by rising sea levels. The sea level has risen by about 0.35 inches per year since 1993, about three times the global average. It is expected to continue to rise by up to 24 more inches by the year 2090.
10. Seychelles: The Seychelles off the east coast of Africa consists of 115 granite an coral islands in the western Indian Ocean, with a population of 87,122. The Seychelles are experiencing an unprecedented rise in sea levels. With around 85 percent of the country’s development sitting on the coastlines, rising sea levels can be catastrophic. Just a one-meter rise could cover many of its low-lying islands and inhabited coastal areas, which would be a 70 percent loss of its land mass. Mangrove forests and coral reefs are also at severe risk.
11. Solomon Islands : The Solomon Islands are east of Papua New  Guinea. They consist of a group of nearly 1,000 islands and atolls and have a population of 584,578. The islands are slowly taken over by the sea. In fact the sea level has risen by around 8 millimeters per year since 1993. It is rising so fast that the provincial capital of Choiseul is just 6.6 feet above sea level, and a new town is being built for residents to relocate.
12. Torres Strait Islands: The Torres Strait Islands are located between Australia and New Guinea and are made up of 274 islands with a population over 8,000.
13. Tuvalu: Tuvalu in the South Pacific consists  of six true atolls and three reef islands that has a population of 11,636. The highest point in the country is less than five meters above sea level, but most of it is less than a meter above. Sea level rise and more severe weather events loom as a growing threat to the entire population. The Tuvalu government says it’s one of the most vulnerable places on Earth to the impact of rising sea levels.