MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Small island nations fear they will cease to exist due to climate change
Delegates from the Alliance of Small Island Nations (AOSIS) underscore the need to fight global warming and adapt to its effects as UN's 22nd Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change unfolds in Marrakesh. Read full article
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Nov 16th, 2016 - 04:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0.”Their analysis [ University of Auckland's School of Environment ] which now extends to more than 600 coral reef islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, indicates that about 80 percent of the islands have remained stable or increased in size (roughly 40 percent in each category)... Some islands grew by as much as 14 acres (5.6 hectares) in a single decade, and Tuvalu's main atoll, Funafuti—33 islands distributed around the rim of a large lagoon—has gained 75 acres (32 hectares) of land during the past 115 years..... ”
Reporting by [insert the usual insults here] ? No. National Geographic.
@ Marti
Nov 16th, 2016 - 09:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0That's actually a very interesting article:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/02/150213-tuvalu-sopoaga-kench-kiribati-maldives-cyclone-marshall-islands/
“They found that reef islands change shape and move around in response to shifting sediments, and that many of them are growing in size, not shrinking, as sea level inches upward. The implication is that many islands—especially less developed ones with few permanent structures—may cope with rising seas well into the next century.”
“Kench's findings suggest that rising sea levels today might reactivate processes of island building that have long been relatively dormant.”
It's certainly good news if those island nations aren't as doomed as they've feared.
One of the curious things about that research on small islands is that the sea walls and other measures taken to attempt to protect the islands from tides and erosion, are actually counterproductive and work against the islands' natural processes for growth and maintenance above sea levels. Almost as if Mother Nature were saying, in effect, “you people, get off this island!”
Nov 16th, 2016 - 09:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0In our next chapter we'll discuss how land subsidence is often mistaken for higher sea level. Or as we used to say, it all depends on your inertial frame of reference.
@ Marti
Nov 17th, 2016 - 05:40 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I didn't know you went in for anthropomorphism. What it really shows is that we need to understand things thoroughly before trying to change them.
It is ironic that sea defences can be counter productive. But unfortunately once you have built houses, power plants and other infrastructure, it's not much use to you if the island is growing somewhere else. You just want to protect the city you already have from falling into the sea.
These growing, shrinking, and moving islands also raise an interesting question about land ownership. It seems it would be pretty pointless owning land that will soon be swallowed by the sea, and who do the newly created bits belong to?
Yes, I go in for anthropomorphism. And wandering through a thicket of metaphors. And things like similes. But in a million years would I stoop to hyperbole.
Nov 17th, 2016 - 06:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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