A new study published in Environmental Research Letters has found that at least five of the Solomon Islands have been completely swallowed by the sea. The reason this group of islands is so important is that shifts in global climate patterns mean that it sees about as much sea level rise per year as the rest of the world will within the next several decades. Up until now scientists have been fairly optimistic that small islands and coastal regions would be able to keep pace with the rising tides, at least to some extent. But most of that has been based on data collected from sites that experience annual increases closer to the global average of about 3mm per year. The Solomon Islands have been experiencing 7-10mm per year since 1993 and at that rate high tide seems to cause considerably more erosion.
Sirilo Sutaroti, the 94-year-old chief of the Paurata tribe said he has had to abandon his village:
The sea has started to come inland, it forced us to move up to the hilltop and rebuild our whole village there away from the sea.
Luckily none of the islands that have disappeared completely were inhabited, though several islands with large communities on them aren’t faring much better. In the Western Pacific, entire villages are being broken apart or even completely relocated because of rising tides. One island nation: The Maldives may not even exist in 80 years. In other places, people have come together in an effort to save their land and built low-lying sea walls. But this leaves them even more in danger in some cases as the walls begin to wear down producing flash floods instead of more gradual ones. Since most of the islanders are poor they’re also using cheaper materials like sandbags and cement, so at some point, these walls will reach their maximum height.
Ultimately, all of these populations within several meters of sea level will have to move. Even with the toughest emissions cuts being proposed it is likely that significant sea level rise will continue for thousands of years before they return to normal. That’s longer than all of recorded history. Many groups are fighting to reduce climate change with the hope that they can save their coastline communities but scientists say that just isn’t plausible. As the world warms not only will the sea continue to rise even faster than it is now but the increasing tidal energy means more destructive waves that will be harder to predict.
Video: Guardian/Rémi Chauvin
Meanwhile, some of these same communities are also facing drought due to rising global temperatures. Because all the flood water is salty it’s not safe to drink and can’t be used to irrigate crops. Inhabitants rely on rain to supply them with water. This means that for many small tropical islands they’re facing the bizarre problem of simultaneous drought and flooding. On one island global relief efforts had to drop water 3 times in 2014 while local islanders had to wade through ankle-deep water just to walk around their communities.
Video: Guardian/Rémi Chauvin
A recent University of Liverpool study also calculated the cost that rising sea levels are having on businesses. In 2007, businesses in the UK ended up paying an estimated 100k Euros through direct or indirect costs. By the end of this century, that figure is expected to more than double. Remember that all of this is in addition to the billions we lose every year from more extreme droughts and climate related disasters. And all of this while politicians in the US are still denying that climate change even exists.
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