Climate Change – a critical issue for the Marshall Islands

Climate Change Is A ‘Matter Of Life And Death’ For The Marshall Islands, Honolulu Civil Beat, The first female head of state of a Pacific island nation talks about the biggest threat her country faces. 4 Nov 16 By Jon Letman It takes a combination of guts, grit and gray matter to face off against what is arguably the world’s biggest threat — a planet in the throes of environmental and climate upheaval.

That’s exactly what Hilde Heine displays with an understated conviction that belies her own determination as a Pacific Island leader.

In January, Heine, 65, was sworn in as the eighth president of the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the first female head of state of an independent Pacific Island nation.

Among the many urgent tasks her administration faces is the immediate need to fortify her nation of 29 atolls scattered across 750,000 square miles of the northern Pacific against the impacts of climate change. What’s more, this young nation with a centuries-old history, is challenged by major demographic shifts stemming from the days when the United States used the northernmost atolls to test 67 atomic and hydrogen bombs.

Not only did the nuclear tests create giant radioactive craters rendering dozens of islands uninhabitable, they triggered the forced relocation (and re-relocation) of many Marshallese.

The ensuing changes transformed a sparsely populated Micronesian paradise into a highly urbanized country where a young population was dogged by faltering infrastructure, crowded living conditions, high unemployment, low wages and illnesses including cancers and diseases like diabetes. These conditions necessitated outside help and fueled both the need and appeal to emigrate to Hawaii and other parts of the U.S. under the Compact of Free Association.

Add to this environmental and climate threats like destructive tropical storms, sea level rise, coastal inundation and flooding, coral bleaching and crippling droughts and you have one seriously daunting situation…….

The Marshall Islands is very proud of its role in the lead up to Paris. We were one of the firstcountries to ratify the Paris Agreement, our parliament actually ratified it even before April 22 when we went to New York to sign with the other countries. We know it is a work in progress — it’s not perfect — but I think it is something that we can live with and we can try to improve on as we go forward………

It’s a matter of life and death for the Marshallese people as an example of low-island countries that are threatened by sea level rise. We’re talking about not only people and their culture will be extinct because other people in the world are not living up to their commitment. We’re hoping that even though we’re a very small island country and the number of people are not that many, countries will live up to their commitment and they’ll be a little bit more sensitive to the plight of small island countries…….. http://www.civilbeat.org/2016/11/climate-change-is-a-matter-of-life-and-death-for-the-marshall-islands/