ARE PACIFIC ATOLLS SINKING? (Chapter 11)        Return to Unit List

In Chapter 1 we examined the issue of global warming. We learned that a number of natural and human factors may be contributing to increased global temperatures and rising ocean levels. We also learned that the facts surrounding the issue are highly contentious, with scientists and politicians offering views on both sides of the debate.

For residents of several low-lying Pacific atolls, the issue of rising sea levels due to global warming is more that just a debate. It is a phenomenon that is threatening their homes and their way of life.

Nations like Tuvalu and Kiribati are experiencing loss of beach front and report that rising sea levels due to global warming are leaving them vulnerable to brutal weather patterns. Read this account from the Environmental New Network of the World Bank's assessment of property damage in these low-lying areas.

Representatives of a number of Pacific nations are gravely concerned that global warming is causing seas to rise and their islands and atolls to drown. Some projections predict the disappearance of some of these low-lying areas over the next half-century. From the representatives' point of view this is an urgent situation that calls for a political remedy in the form of global environmental policy that stems the human factors contributing to global warming.

As noted in the Chapter 1 Overview Unit, such policy exists in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which addresses global climate change by calling on industrialized nations to curb harmful emissions. The refusal of the United States to ratify the protocol has put the Bush administration at odds with Pacific leaders. As the BBC reports, acceptance of such policy to reduce pollution is considered a matter of survival for these Pacific nations.

Some in the Pacific want to boycott the United States in protest of its environmental stance regarding the Kyoto Protocol, but concede that the impact would be negligible without support from beyond the Pacific region.

As the debate continues, some small Pacific islands are looking to larger nations in the region to help. While New Zealand is participating in an agreement to relocate some residents of Tuvalu, Australia is rejecting these "environmental refugees" in accordance with their stringent immigration policy.

Not only are Pacific Islanders failing to garner political support on this issue, but some members of the scientific community reject the idea that the islands and atolls are sinking at all. The Space Daily reports that one Australian funded study found no increase in sea level, specifically on the island of Tuvalu. Scientist Wolfgang Scherer explains that gauges installed throughout the Pacific to measure water level indicate that there has been no increase. See the following reports:
 
http://www.tuvaluislands.com/news/archives/2002/2002-02-01.htm.
http://www.spacedaily.com/2002/020328041702.ixj7exir.html
http://www.spacedaily.com/2002/020327032803.yj9ss4ee.html

After reading the above articles, think about the following questions:

  • Given the contradicting information, how could you go about assessing what is actually happening to these Pacific islands and what course of action to take?
  • Is a complete understanding of the actual causes necessary before action is taken?
  • What if nothing is done and we discover later that human-made emissions were leading to global warming?
  • Given the information about these Pacific islands, are there other parts of the world that might shed light on this situation? Is there any historical data that might prove instructive?

Finally, choose either the pro or con position on the issue of whether or not Pacific atolls are sinking as a result of rising sea levels due to global warming. Write a brief essay defending your position.

For more on this ongoing discussion, see the following:

Jane's Oceana Global Warming Page: a website supportive of the global warming theory and its effects on Pacific islands.

A report on the potential effects of global warming on Pacific Islands from Disaster Relief.
 
The Inuit (Eskimo) people of the arctic region face a problem related to the threat of rising sea levels for Pacific Islanders. Retreating sea ice in the arctic ocean has been threatening the traditional seal hunts of the Inuit, and they increasingly blame global warming for the situation. At the 10th round of the UN convention on climate change in Buenos Aires in December, 2004, Inuit representatives claimed that global warming was, for them, a human rights issue.