While the pledge to double climate change funding by 2024 I believe will be welcomed, I have to wonder whether it be timely enough to save the impact of climate change, such as sea rise, on low lying islands in the Solomon Islands, such as those in the Outer Reef Islands, where sea water intrusion has destroyed food gardens, damaged homes and necessitated the islanders to move to higher ground.
Last week, the Marshall Islands Foreign Minister said his country’s people had no intention of relocating due to sea level rise.
A US Geological Survey recently projected that some of the Marshalls' low-lying islands would be submerged by 2035, while others will probably lack drinking water because their aquifers would be contaminated with saltwater.,
Despite this gloomy forecast, Foreign Minister Nemra said,
Quote.
The Marshallese were there to stay.
Studies show that we've been here in the islands for the past two millennia. And we have every intent to stay here for the next two millennia," he said.
Let's put it that way. It's not an option for us to relocate or become so-called climate change refugees. It's something we don't accept."
It was important for climate change deliberations at the United Nations and other multi-lateral organisations factor in the Marshall Islands' viewpoint.
Minister Nemra said the suggestion that their nation should relocate was "degrading" and a violation of their well being, as the islands were central to the identity of Marshallese.
We're the people who have been residing in these respective islands, and we're here to stay," he said.
End of quote.
Reading what Minister Nemra had said, I was reminded of the story of King Canute in the apocryphal anecdote illustrating the piety or humility of King Canute the Great, recorded in the 12th century.
In the story, Canute demonstrates to his flattering courtiers that he has no control over the elements (the incoming tide), explaining that secular power is vain compared to the the supreme power of God.
The story has frequently been alluded to in contexts where the futility of "trying to stop the tide" of an inexorable event is pointed out.
Perhaps, Minister Nemru is relying on the Green Climate Fund to ensure adaptation funding and planning implication will bring about the necessary adaptation measures to keep the sea at bay.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has certainly been active in Vanuatu with targeted projects in the areas of tourism, agriculture, infrastructure, water management and fisheries.
Specific project goals included building technical capacity to harness and manage climate data, developing practical CIS tools, fostering their use and disseminating tailored climate information.
I am not aware of the extent of GCF or specific projects underway in the Marshall Islands or in the Solomon Islands.
Brianna Fruean a Samoan climate activist who has been leading grassroots climate justice movements for most of her life said today that real climate leadership rests with hardest hit indigenous communities and indigenous communities should be a part of the climate resilience conversation, so they can share their solutions with each other and the world. Climate solutions will not solely be found in future technology, but also in practices of our indigenous past, she said.
Perhaps, Minister Nemra has indigenous solutions to climate resilience and sea rise which he might share because I am sure it is true nobody wants to move from their historical and cultural land and would be heartened by the courage of the people of the Marshall Islands winning the fight against the sea.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
