Embedded Files
Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands
UN expert calls for action as Marshall Islands faces dual displacement crisis
Tuvalu
Tuvalu
The 2024 small island developing states report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change
The 2024 small island developing states report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change
State of Climate in SW Pacific
Data gaps for indicators in SIDS
Indicators for which data are available for ≥70% of SIDS- Labour capacity and heat
- Heat and physical activity
- Climate suitability to infectious diseases
- Lethality of extreme weather events
- Exposure to heating
- Migration, displacement, and sea-level rise
- Detection, preparedness, and response to health emergencies
- Multilateral funding
- Government engagement
- Heat-related mortality
- Exposure of vulnerable populations
- Urban green space
- Economic impact of climate and its mitigation
- Corporate sector engagement
- National plans and assessment of climate change for health
- Transition to net zero carbon economies
- Drought
- Scientific engagement
- Air quality and pollution
- Water, sanitation, and hygiene
- Cost of energy provision and production from renewable resources
- Legal framework for the adoption of renewables
- Climate-related adverse mental health outcomes
- Climate threats to vulnerable groups (disabled people, people with low incomes, people who are marginalised)
- Economic burden of slow-onset weather events
- Import dependence, food security, and tropical cyclones
- Non-communicable diseases and climate change
GLOBAL STUDIES RESEARCH SERIES Research Report 19
AUGUST 2024
Climate change induces extreme weather events, alters the global ecosystems, and can lead to resource
scarcity, socio-economic upheaval, and human mobility. Pacific Island countries, especially low-lying atoll
nations are particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels and intensified weather events. Residents of some islands
and coastal areas may face relocation or forced displacement, confronting myriad challenges in possibly
unfamiliar territories, that may threaten their dignity, cultural identity and sense of security.
This paper analyses the findings from a series of Talanoa discussions with young Pasifika migrants living in
diaspora communities beyond their own lands. It narrates the personal journeys of these young individuals,
their experiences highlighting some of the challenges related to intangible losses and damages that need to be
addressed if the global community is to effectively assist in future climate-related migration and the integration
of migrants into new national societies.
Kwajalein Atoll is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) in the West Central Pacific Ocean. It lies 2,100 nautical miles southwest of Honolulu. Kwajalein is in the same general latitude as the southern area of the Republic of the Philippines and the same general longitude as New Zealand, approximately 3,200 miles to the south. Kwajalein Atoll lies less than 700 miles north of the equator.
Kwajalein Atoll is a crescent loop of coral reef, enclosing an area of 1,125 square miles, one of the world’s largest lagoons. Situated on the reef are approximately 100 small islands with a total land area of 5.6 square miles. Kwajalein Island, the largest in the atoll, is 3/4 of a mile wide and 3.5 miles long. From Kwajalein Island north to Roi-Namur is approximately 50 miles; northwest from Kwajalein to Ebadon is approximately 75 miles. Approximately 15,000 Marshallese citizens live within the atoll, with the majority living on Ebeye, three miles north of Kwajalein.
Roi-Namur Island on Kwajalein Atoll serves as our test case
Roi-Namur Island on Kwajalein Atoll serves as our test case
Visit the research overview web site (https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/data/walrus/atolls/index.html) for more information.
The Problem
The Problem
Many U.S. Pacific islands are atolls fringed with coral reefs and have maximum elevations of 3–5 meters, with mean elevations of 1–2 meters. Sea level in the western Pacific Ocean has been increasing at a rate 2–3 times the global average, resulting in almost 0.3 meters of net rise since 1990. The 2012 US National Climate Assessment provided global sea level rise scenarios that ranged from 0.2 to 2.0 meters by 2100. Regional scenarios are needed. A high surf event in December 2008 overwashed numerous atolls in Micronesia, ruining freshwater supplies and destroying agriculture on approximately 60% of the inhabited islands. Sea-level rise will exacerbate the hazards posed by climate change (storms, waves, temperatures, precipitation, etc.) to infrastructure, freshwater supplies, agriculture, and habitats for threatened and endangered species on U.S. and U.S.-affiliated atoll islands.
Project Objectives
Project Objectives
Provide basic understanding and specific information on storm-wave-induced overwash and inundation of atoll islands that house Department of Defense (DoD) installations.
Assess the resulting impact of sea-level rise and storm-wave inundation on infrastructure and freshwater availability under a variety of sea-level rise and climatic scenarios.
Use Roi-Namur Island (Reagan Test Site–U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll) on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (U.S. Associated Pacific Islands) as a test case based on historical information, sea-level rise predictions, and global climate model (GCM) output.
Pacific atolls face $10 billion cost of rising sea, says World Bank
Pacific atolls face $10 billion cost of rising sea, says World Bank
By Reuters
November 14, 20249:34 PM GMT+13Updated a few seconds ago
Item 1 of 2 Aerial view of Funafuti, Tuvalu’s most populous island, September 6, 2024. Picture taken through plane window. REUTERS/Kirsty Needham/File Photo
[1/2]Aerial view of Funafuti, Tuvalu’s most populous island, September 6, 2024. Picture taken through plane window. REUTERS/Kirsty Needham/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
SYDNEY, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Adapting to a sea level rise of up to 0.5 metres (1.64 feet) will cost the three most vulnerable Pacific atoll nations nearly $10 billion - equivalent to about 20 years of gross domestic product - the World Bank said in a report on Thursday.
Kiribati, Tuvalu and Marshall Islands are among the smallest, most remote and dispersed countries in the world, spread across 6.4 million square kilometres (2.47 million square miles) of Pacific Ocean, where residents live at an elevation of no more than 2-3 metres, the report said.
A third of the population of Kiribati and Tuvalu are at risk of falling into extreme poverty from climate shocks such as coastal flooding, while healthcare is under pressure from increased heat-related illness, it said.
A sea level rise of 0.5 metres, which would submerge significant portions of these nations, could occur as soon as 2050 under a worst case scenario, or more likely by 2070, and it was imperative for governments to act on adaptation plans now, it said.
Money is a central focus of the COP29 climate talks being held in Azerbaijan and the success of the summit is likely to be judged on whether nations can agree a new target for how much richer nations, development lenders and the private sector must provide each year to developing countries to finance climate action.
The Pacific atolls face a significant climate funding gap, the World Bank report said.
The cost of physical adaptation, by building seawalls in urban centres, house raising and inland relocation, for a sea level rise of up to 0.5 metres, was estimated at $3.7 billion for Kiribati, $1 billion for Tuvalu, and $5 billion for Marshall Islands.
"This represents about 20 years of current GDP dedicated fully to physical adaptation measures," the report said.
The estimate excludes the cost of other adaptation measures needed in health, education, power and water systems.
Importing sand and rock to build sea walls and raise and reclaim shorelines will also be costly and challenging, it added.
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