Tiny atoll in Pacific cries out for help

WELLINGTON/CHRISTCHURCH: World Environment Day may have been celebrated across the planet with some fanfare and lots of tree planting on Thursday but it was put in perspective by Anote Tong, president of the small Pacific Ocean nation of Kiribati comprising 32 atolls, when he issued a plaintive appeal to global leaders to save his country from disappearing from the face of the earth.
Kiribati will be one of the first nations to suffer consequences of climate change and a resultant rise in sea levels. "None of the atolls that make up our country are more than two metres above sea level. We will be submerged by the end of the century, as things stand right now," Tong said at a WED 2008 meeting in Wellington, which was the host city for this important date on the UN calendar.
Even as the world is caught up in finger-pointing and debating on how to combat climate change, Tong stressed that it was a no-brainer for his country and others like the low-lying Pacific Ocean states and the Maldives. "In time, the islands will be submerged. But what happens before that is equally devastating. Entire villages are being relocated as the sea encroaches upon the land. People are being asked to move from places that have been home for them. It���s a human tragedy," Tong said.
The Kiribati president was joined on the occasion by New Zealand PM Helen Clark, IPCC chairman and Nobel laureate R K Pachauri, UN Environment Programme executive director Achim Steiner besides a host of NZ ministers and scientists working in the field of climate change.
The World Environment Day, celebrated every year on June 5, was first observed in 1972 and is the UN���s flagship environmental event. Each year, a different city is chosen as the principal venue for the global celebrations with a specific theme. This year's slogan was 'Kick The Co2 Habit' with a special emphasis on moving towards a low carbon economy as the world tries to find ways to stave off climate change and its dire consequences. "Climate change is the single biggest environmental issue facing the world today. Droughts and floods, rising sea levels, melting ice and other impacts of climate change pose the potential for problems on a global scale requiring nations to collaborate to develop solutions," Clark said.
"The theme of ���Kick the Co2 Habit��� is more than a strong and catchy phrase. If we are to move the global economy to a greener and cleaner one, a sharp reduction in the inefficient use of fossil fuels allied to an increase in renewable energy must be the centre of the international response," UNEP's Steiner said.
Pachauri, who has been the driving force behind IPCC, listed the serious problems facing the earth today. "Eleven of the last 12 years have been the warmest 12 ever recorded in history. If you need proof of global warming, I don���t think you need to look beyond that statistic," he said.
The IPCC chairman added that sea levels were rising at a rate of 3.1 mm every year since 1993 and heat waves had become more frequent across the world, referring in particular to the severe heat wave witnessed by Europe in 2003, leading to 35,000 deaths.
"Frequency of heavy rains has increased over most areas and we are seeing more intense and longer droughts. The intensity of cyclones has also gone up over the past three decades," Pachauri said, while calling for urgent remedial action. One of the main stumbling blocks in climate change negotiations is the developed vs developing country stand-off on emission cuts that the two groups need to resolve. Economic development is the oft-repeated goal put forth by less developed nations to argue against cuts.
But for those on the verge of extinction, economic progress does not hold any meaning. "The issue here is of human survival, not growth," president Tong reminded the world. ���Ultimately, it will be the survival of the fittest. But that law applies to animals, not human beings. We are humans and I appeal to the world community to solve this problem for us," he added.