Concern in Kapinamarangi over sudden rise in sea level

February 04, 2022 | Las Vegas Central Newsroom

More and more countries are beginning to suffer the consequences of climate change, especially those with fewer resources. The South Pacific region will predictably be the most affected by the incessant rise in sea level, its tropical islands of palm, banana and coconut trees will become part of the immense Pacific Ocean, being forgotten in eternity, along with their cultures and traditions. Kapingamarangi, an atoll that forms part of the Bismarck Archipelago, which a century and a half ago was part of the Spanish Empire, totally isolated, with almost no contact with the outside world and with only one supply ship every three months from the Federated States of Micronesia, has only an average altitude of less than a meter. An atoll made up of 33 islands and where less than 700 people live, every day, it is more difficult for them to continue with their life and traditions, increasingly aware of the rise of the sea and the lack of drinking water.

Few aid missions reach such a remote place where it can only be reached by boat after a 5-day journey. In November 2019, the Delegation of the European Union in the Pacific installed drums to store drinking water from the rain, with a capacity of 193,056 liters of water, in addition to financing the construction of pipes to deliver the water directly to the buildings most important and some of the houses. Workers from the islands themselves were hired and taught how to repair and operate the system. With rising sea levels, underground aquifers from which fresh water was previously drawn are now simply wells filled with seawater.

In the next few days we will publish a report on the detailed situation of the atoll and the planned aid and cooperation measures that will be carried out soon. You can see it published in the section of Support Services and Foundation.