Climate Change Is Raising Sea Levels And Swallowing The Solomon Islands

A new study relates global warming to the sea-level rise of the Pacific Ocean and the swallowing of five Solomon Islands.

"The sea has started to come inland, it forced us to move up to the hilltop and rebuild our village there away from the sea," said Sirilo Sutaroti, a leader of the Paurata tribe.

There are six main islands along with thousands of smaller ones here. But even though the population is low, it is difficult for the residents to find a safe home.

"There are large volcanic islands where people can relocate to," said Simon Albert of The University of Queensland, Australia and co-author of the study, although such displacements can lead to tension. "The majority of land is tightly controlled by traditional owners - so moving one group of people onto other peoples' lands has been the source of ethnic conflict."

Even though earlier research has indicated  that atolls and other islands resist rising seas, Albert and his team found 11 drowned Solomon Islands. Six of them were undergoing "severe erosion" while others were totally overwhelmed by the ocean.

"This ultimately calls for support from development partners and international financial mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund," said Melchior Mataki, chair of the Solomon Islands' National Disaster Council. "This support should include nationally driven scientific studies to inform adaptation planning to address the impacts of climate change in Solomon Islands."

It is not clear how hundreds of billions of dollars that are being promised through financial mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund will be used to help these remote communities address the sea level rising in the Solomon Islands steadily over the past 20 years.

"The rates we have recently seen in the Solomons will be experienced globally in the second half of this century," Albert said.

The findings were published in the May 6, 2016, issue of Environmental Research Letters.

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