Farewell Pacific - but it won't be long

It is has come… the end, but hopefully not for long. It has been a pleasure and I will be updating the blog on new and interesting developments in the South Pacific but not as regularly as before.

Just to recap I have looked at:

Water – has been a recurring theme. Water shortages have been an issue for many islands, especially low lying ones. Rising sea levels, increased frequency and intensity of storms have increased the incidence of saltwater intrusion, contaminating water supply. These tropical islands seem the furthest from dry, but it is about having access to safe water which seems to be one of the largest concerns with climate change.

Biodiversity – coral bleaching caused by the effects of climate change have been a major concern for marine biodiversity. Corals are an important ecosystem, they’re demise is possible and management of them is paramount. In my blog post on protecting corals I focused mainly on how local groups were dealing with them, for more regional approaches such as MPAs (marine protected areas) I would recommend a look at ‘Under the Sea: the curious case of coral’. Birds in Hawaii; has also been an interesting aspect of biodiversity loss due to climate change. The increasing air temperature increasing avian malaria may see the end of some of the Honeycreeper species.

Some of the articles I have read have been thought provoking and made me reassess a variety of matters. Reading Fabotkos piece about climate change being exaggerated in Tuvalu has made me more critical of pictures and youtube videos. Trying to incorporate social capital into adaption schemes was also a new way of thinking for me. These two blog posts were in my top three most viewed; Tuvalu, Canary in a coalmine? And Adapting in Fiji, more stressful than you’d expect. Have a re-read if you fancy.

I’d like to thank my followers and my fellow bloggers for educating me and occasionally referencing me J.

See you soon!

Kate x

Rising Sea levels, Raising water issues in Tuvalu

As this will be one of my lasts posts I thought it would be appropriate to leave with talking about the most famous Pacific Island when it comes to Climate Change - Tuvalu. I’ll be looking at the issues faced by climate change and what they will do to try and alleviate these problems, which I feel reflects the topics I have raised in previous posts.

Tuvalu is one of the smallest nations in terms of national economy, land mass and population size. When they claimed independence from Britain in 1978, they were advised by the British to join with Kiribati as their soils were infertile, they have limited flora and fauna, and lack many resources (Aalsberberg andHay, 1992).  They have the typical issues of small islands states, but they could be worse, due to remittances (which contribute to 20% of national income) and foreign aid Tuvalu is better off than many other small islands (Asian Development Bank, 2002). 

Despite doing well from remittances and foreign aid, their economy is still weak and their physical attributes – mainly being low lying, makes them extremely vulnerable to climate change (Connell 2003). A rise of mean sea level would lift the zone of flooding and intensify storm waves. This would erode the coast line, which would be accentuated by greater frequency of storms (Connell 2003). Land losses would create competition for land, reduce agricultural production, and resources from flora and fauna (Connell 2003).

Fishing would be affected as Mangrove habitats will be damaged. As well as reefs would also be eroded, disturbing lagoon ecology (Connell 2003).

Islands above a certain size (about 1.5 hectares) contain a permanent lens of fresh water surrounded by salt water (Connell 2003). The volume is proportionate to the land size, so loss of land would create a loss in freshwater. This is worsened, less land increases the frequency of overwash, so water is contaminated by salt water (Connell 2003). Overwash would also increase coastal erosion and greater incidence of storms. Not only does drinking water become undrinkable but agriculture becomes affected too, with the soil not being the best already supplying it with salt water would only damage crop production further (Roy and Connell, 1991). The green house affect will also affect rainwater, provided another issue for water availability. Water scarcity has been talked about in previous posts, although loss of land is an issue for any island, even more so for an island like Tuvalu as it is far too small and vulnerable to cope with land loss. Although the issue of imagined geographies has already been examined and I am now presenting Tuvalu in this vulnerable state, they will still be experiencing the effects worse than most as they do have fewer resources to cope.

As many are aware emigration has been a method of adapting to climate change, some adaptation has been less extreme. De-salinization plants have been built to cope with the water issues created by climate change. This video shows the sort of methods used to conserve water and therefore live on the island with satisfying water availability.  

The video presented a few ways of conserving water, desalinisation is attractive but very expensive. Therefore UNESCO has advised collecting rainwater to be the main priority (Indymedia Climate 2005). Education was highlighted as being essential, as well as government intervention such as changing bank loan policies so that water tanks are mandatory (Indymedia Climate 2005).

An extreme response to the effects caused by climate change is emigration. In 2001 New Zealand accepted Tuvaluans as ‘environmental refugees’(Indymedia Climate2005). Around 3,000 refugees have been sent to New Zealand, but emigration is looking less promising (Indymedia Climate 2005). Australia have said they will not recognise Tuvaluans as environmental refugees and New Zealand have stringent migration requirements so the sick, elderly and poor are less able to migrate (Indymedia Climate 2005). Migration is an extreme measure, which some do not realise when articles indicate that the island will physically disappear which it will not. Tuvaluans do not want to leave, they decided to be a small country and not join Kiribati to save their culture, they do not want to jeopardise that again. This video presents some of the other options to adapting to climate change:

Although for the pessimist it seems migration seems to be the inevitable as demonstrated in this video. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSpDsP58udM

Tuvalu, Canary in a coalmine?

The issue of sea level rise is often demonstrated with Tuvalu. Since the late 1980s Tuvalu has been identified as threatened by sea level rise from Climate Change (Connell 2003). Tuvalu has been given a stage on the political arena, provided with politicians to represent them in climate affairs, as well as being the poster child for the effects of Climate change (Fabotko 2010). Tuvalu has been mentioned (not in name) in Al Gores ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ and is used to publicise the effects of Climate Change to; politicians at climate debates, for example at Copenhagen; and to provoke countries and the public into action.

It is incredible how its name has become so known, with no internal conflict, nuclear testing or natural disaster so have been of little interest to journalists and neighbouring countries. However now they play an important role in Climate Change discourse. They are seen as Climate refugees, as imagined geographies have presented them as country too small and poor to be without foreign aid, and to solve their issues would be to move to mainland countries such as Australia (Fabotko 2010).

Tuvalu has also been the ‘global showcase’ for renewable energies, French environmentalists have made efforts to rid all their islands of fossil fuels (Fabotko 2010). Why is it so attractive to journalists and environmentalists? I suppose it is a site where uncertainty about global climate change is miniaturised and resolved in and through the quest to know if the sea around it is rising. Tuvalu has been compared to the metaphor ‘canary in a coalmine’ which indicates that Tuvalu is not a value in itself but is important to a larger (global) environmental purpose (Fabotko 2010).

Tuvalu has become a space where the fate of the planet is brought forward in time and miniaturised in space;

‘reduced to a performance of rising seas and climate refugees played out for those with most control over the current and future uses of fossil fuels.’ (Farbutko 2010 page 8)

In this way we can view Tuvalu as an ‘Island Laboratory’, it can show us a scenario of what to come (Fabotko 2010). As Tuvalu is a major player in Climate Change discourse there have been representational leaps from the island being a ‘marginal laboratory’ to an ‘expendable laboratory’ in pursuit of the larger purpose of saving the world (Fabotko 2010). This view has led to exaggeration of the threats facing Tuvalu. For example environmentalist, Mark Lynas, has a strong desire for Tuvalu to be almost uninhabitable (Fabotko 2010). He made a piece about rising sea levels affecting the high tides in Tuvalu, in which he has a photograph of a man, two children with a barbeque knee deep in water (Fabotko 2010). It represents the high tides that have been occurring more often due to climate change. However it has been criticised as it is a misleading photograph and has been presented in may reputable sources such as UNESCO which adds validity to the image. Although high tides have been occurring more frequently, they occur around three times a year, and last a few days (Fabotko 2010). There are many like Lynas who are over exaggerating the effects of climate change in Tuvalu which should be kept in mind when looking at the island (Fabotko 2010).  

Which is why I found it interesting to find a BBC news article about low lying Pacific Islands growing not sinking. It claimed that a new geological survey showed the islands of Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Federated States of Micronesia were indeed expanding because of coral debris and sediment (Bryant 2010). The study showed that 27 islands over the last 60 years have remained stable, and some have grown (Zukerman2010). Historical images and satellite photography showed that 80% of the islands had remained the same or had got bigger (Bryant 2010). Scientists believe many of the islands will still be around for another 100 years (Zukerman 2010). Although there are some issues with this article: historical images can be subjective, and although they may not be sinking these islands are still under threat from sea level rise. Although land may not be getting scarcer the issues of salt water contamination, inundation and coastal erosion are still issues brought on by climate change.  

Honey, I am talking about the Honeycreepers

I couldn’t leave just one post to the Honeycreepers, these birds are fascinating creatures. Endemic to Hawaii they hold much scientific interest as they are an example of adaptive radiation, in other words an example of natural selection (ScienceDaily 2011) (Guardian 2011).

There was once at least 56 species, but only 18 now remain (Guardian 2011). This valuable and delicate species is at a greater threat now due to climate change.

The transmission of pox and malaria in Hawaii depends on climatic conditions, seasonal changes in temperature and rainfall in particular influence the increase or decrease mosquito populations (USGS 2009).

Hawaii provided safe refuges for birds in its more mountainous areas as their usual habitats in the wet forests on lower ground have become malaria . It is thought this area of higher altitude explained why the Honeycreepers were not completely wiped out the first time these non native diseases were introduced (USGS 2009). However the temperature in the mountains is increasing, putting Honeycreepers at a higher risk of contracting pox or malaria. Today, native Hawaiian birds face one of the highest rates of extinction in the world, only three species of Honeycreepers is in decent shape (USGS 2009).The Po‘ouli became extinct in 2004 (Pratt 2009) demonstrating the fragility to their species. 

It is thought if the 2ᵒC increase does happen around 60 to 96 % of the high-elevation disease refuges will vanish (USGS 2009).

The tropical inversion layer which is the thin cloud that surrounds the upper parts of the mountains will soon play a larger role in Honeycreepers survival. With the increase in temperature the layer has become more frequent. The tropical inversion layer affects plant growth so will make habitats further up, away from malaria risk areas, inhospitable for Honeycreepers (USGS 2009).

Deforestation could further alter the patterns of malaria transmission (Sehgal 2009). Deforestation, for example, of the Alaka`I Wilderness Preserve on Kaua`I Island could adjust the pattern of seasonal transmission of avian malaria to a pattern of continuous yearly transmission (Atkinson and LaPointe, 2009).

Natural resistance to avian malaria has developed in one species, the Hawaii amakihi, which is more populous in lower parts of the forest than more elevated areas despite high levels of mosquitoes (Woodworth et al 2005; Kilpatrick et al 2006). It is thought that good habitat management could help other honeycreepers develop some resistance to avian malaria (Kilpatrick 2006). However; warming may be increasing at a rate that will make it impossible for Hawaiian birds to develop a resistance in time. It looks like humans will need to take action or these valuable bird species will be overwhelmed by global warming (Miller 2012). 

Previous posts have focused much more on the effects climate change has on humans, we need to also remember the other creatures that are affected.

Reference

Miller, S. (2012) ‘Climate Change Threatens Hawaiian Forest Birds’, in Keener, V. et al (ed.) Climate Change and Pacific Islands: Indicators and Impacts, PIRCA: Island Press, 11-12