Photo courtesy of Greenpeace/Marine Photobank

By Bradnee Chambers
BONN, May 21 2014 (IPS)

Some of the Earth’s most delicate tropical paradises are being disfigured by the by-products of the modern age – marine debris: plastic bottles, carrier bags and discarded fishing gear. 

Just a tiny fraction of this originates from the islands themselves – most is generated on land and enters the sea through the sewers and drains; the rest comes from passenger liners, freighters and fishing vessels, whose crews often use the oceans as a giant waste disposal unit.  While much of the garbage sinks, some of it joins the giant gyres where the currents carry it across the globe.

"Marine debris casts its ominous shadow and threatens to break the virtuous circle which would otherwise guarantee sustainable livelihoods and incentives to protect wildlife."
Small Island Developing States (SIDS), recognised as a distinct group of nations by the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, lack the space to dedicate to landfill sites and do not have the resources to deal with the huge problem of marine debris that is being washed up on their doorstep – as the tides and currents wash the accumulated marine garbage onto their beaches.  Domestically, they can take steps to ensure that they do not add to the problem – American Samoa for instance has banned plastic bags – but the “polluter pays” principle would require that those responsible for producing the waste should be made responsible for disposing of it properly.

A litter-strewn beach is an eye-sore and with tourism playing a major role in the economies of many island states, marine debris can have substantial adverse financial implications threatening local businesses and employment prospects.

Palau has banned commercial fisheries in its huge territorial waters forsaking the lucrative licensing revenue and will develop ecotourism based on snorkelling and scuba diving as a sustainable alternative.  Alive, Palau’s sharks can bring in $1.9 million each over their life-time.  Dead, a shark is worth a few hundred dollars, most of it attributable to the fins used to make soup considered a delicacy in parts of East Asia.

In February, Indonesia became the world’s largest sanctuary for manta rays and banned the fishing and export of the species throughout the 2.2 million square miles surrounding the archipelago.  The numbers are about the same; as a tourist attraction, a manta ray is worth in excess of 1 million dollars; as meat or medicine no more than 500 dollars.

Whale-watching creates jobs while bird-watching boosts binocular and camera sales and both help hotel occupancy rates.  And the total number of international travellers broke the one billion mark for the first time in 2012 making tourism one of the main foreign exchange earners globally particularly for many developing countries, including SIDS.

But marine debris casts its ominous shadow and threatens to break the virtuous circle which would otherwise guarantee sustainable livelihoods and incentives to protect wildlife.

Sea birds inadvertently feed their young with plastic which then blocks the chicks’ intestines preventing them from eating properly and leading to a slow and painful death.  The staple prey of some marine turtles is jellyfish but the turtles often mistake plastic bags for their favourite food with same dire results.  For larger species such as whales, dolphins and seals, discarded fishing gear – ghost nets – are a problem as the animals become entangled in them.  This can impede the animals’ movement and ability to hunt as well as cause serious injury or even death through drowning.

Remote island habitats support a rich and diverse fauna often including unique endemic species and provide vital stop-over sites for migrants and breeding sites for marine birds. But long established bird colonies have fallen victim to another danger exacerbated by humans – that posed by invasive alien species.

The problem of rodent infestations is well documented.  Mice and rats have escaped from ships wreaking havoc on the local bird populations which had previously nested on the ground with impunity as there were no predators.  Eradication programmes have successfully rid 400 islands of their alien rodents.

Less well known is the phenomenon of “rafting” where the invaders also use marine debris as a vector – plastic bottles are harbouring a potentially devastating assortment of worms, insect larvae, barnacles and bacteria, and warmer waters arising from climate change increase the resilience of these unwanted stowaways making them an even more potent danger.

One of the fascinations of dealing with the animals covered by the Convention on Migratory Species is how they link different countries and even continents.  Many of the species are endangered and their conservation as well as the threats that they face require internationally coordinated measures.  This applies to marine debris, a singularly unwelcome “migratory species” whose continued presence CMS will be doing its utmost to eliminate.

Excerpt:

Coastal erosion in Carriacou, Grenada. Credit: Peter Richards/IPS

By Peter Richards
BRUSSELS, Dec 12 2013 (IPS)

As president of the Council of Ministers of the African, Caribbean and Pacific states, Samoa’s Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi had the perfect forum to voice his concerns about the effects climate change has had on his island nation.

Malielegaoi, who chaired a two-day ministerial conference in Brussels, which ended Wednesday, Dec. 11, said that climate change was responsible for the frequency of natural disasters that have befallen Samoa in recent years.

“This is the view shared by most, although sadly we are still waiting for a concerted global response that would at least halt climate change,” he told delegates. Samoa will host the United Nations Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in 2014.

He said that the extreme danger climate change, ocean acidification and environmental degradation posed to the world could be overstated, adding that “the consequences of this to our island states and all our ACP membership would be devastating” as some observers think “the very existence of low-lying island countries could be in jeopardy.”

Malielegaoi said that assistance from partners such as the European Union (EU) was urgently needed by all ACP countries to support efforts to develop climate resilience through mitigation and adaptation measures “if the sustainability of our development efforts and long-term prospects are to have any meaning.”

Jamaica’s ambassador to the ACP, Vilma Kathleen McNish, told IPS that the Caribbean has had to deal with the impact of climate change and it was “obviously a huge challenge.”

“For some of us … it is existential. We rely so much on our coastline in terms of tourism, which is one of our major economic livelihoods,” she said.

She said that the impact of climate change was evident in the Caribbean with sea levels rising and the resultant depletion of fish stocks. There were also increased occurrences of hurricanes. She said that this disrupted the economy of the Caribbean and the livelihoods of its people.

“So for us, climate change at the individual and regional level is a major challenge.”

Samoa’s Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi said that his country, like other small island nations, remained highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. Credit: Peter Richards/IPS

She said that the SIDS summit in Samoa would be critical for the Caribbean and other developing countries because it would look not only at climate change but at various issues that affect small island developing states leading up to the post 2015 development agenda.

“Most countries in the region [Caribbean] are now putting in place policies geared towards adaptation and mitigation. We still believe, however, that the international community has a responsibility to support our countries in our development,” McNish said.

South Africa’s ambassador Mxolisi Nkosi told IPS that the ACP’s engagement with the EU on this and other matters should be based on the principle of equality, non-conditionality, non-interference and mutual benefit.

“We should call on the international community to commit to limiting a global temperature rise to below two degrees Celsius in a legal instrument, and agree to a common global goal on adaptation as a way to recognise that, despite its local and context specific needs, adaptation is a global responsibility,” Nkosi said.

Malielegaoi said that Samoa, like other SIDS, remained highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation.

In the 1990s the Pacific Island nation suffered two devastating cyclones that wiped off industries and businesses that contributed 50 percent of GDP. Malielegoa said this devastation reversed “economic progress by more than a decade”.

In September 2009, the island was struck by a deadly tsunami that killed more than 140 people and left thousands homeless. In December 2012, another cyclone struck, killing people and wreaking havoc on the infrastructure and the economy.

“For a small island country with a small population, the losses and setbacks from these natural disasters are hardly bearable,” Malielegaoi told IPS.

He said while he was grateful to the EU and other developmental partners for coming to the aid of the island, “Samoa’s experience is repeated in all our Pacific Island countries and, I am sure, right across the ACP membership.”

Last month, ACP countries agreed on a common position paper on the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Warsaw, Poland.

The 79-member grouping said adaptation to climate change and mobilising funding from a variety of sources were immediate and urgent priorities for ACP member states that should be addressed in a comprehensive manner at the global level with the same level of priority as mitigation.

Kiribati climate activist Wanita Limpus in Brisbane. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

By Catherine Wilson
BRISBANE, Australia, Oct 1 2012 (IPS)

Climate activist Wanita Limpus, from the low-lying island nation of Kiribati in the Central Pacific Ocean, says the outcome of the Rio+20 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in June was a serious letdown for small, developing island states.  

Half of the 10 million people of the Pacific islands reside within 1.5 km of the coastline, and Limpus stressed that climate change and rising sea levels were not a prediction but a reality threatening human security now. 

Kiribati, with a population of over 100,000, comprises a coral island and 32 atolls that are 1-3 m above sea level.  

“I couldn’t believe it. Did they (world leaders at Rio) really care about these small islands?” Limpus questioned during an interview with IPS in Brisbane. “It didn’t seem to be on their agenda. What can you do? Who is going to listen?” 

Sustainable habitation on Kiribati is jeopardised by the sea that has risen on average 1-4 mm per year since 1993, and overcrowding it with a population density reaching 15,000 people per sq km.    

Limpus campaigns for greater public awareness and action on climate change and received a 2010 Peace Women Award from the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in Australia. She is from Betio village on the main island of Tarawa, which has an average land width of 450 m. 

“I am not a scientist, but I have witnessed what is happening there,” Limpus said.  “Climate change is a reality people live with which influences their culture, way of life, their connection with their ancestors and family land they have inhabited for hundreds of years.” 

In Betio, homes are flooded regularly by king tides, seawater has ruined crops of taro and coconut trees near the beach are dying, and with scarce freshwater people are increasingly relying on supplies delivered by a council truck. 

Water provision fails to meet the World Health Organisation recommended 50 litres per person per day. There is little land available to grow fresh produce, while imported foods are too expensive for most islanders. Villagers also have to cope with seawater damage.

“The ones who live near the lagoon on the ocean side are doing their very best to build a retaining wall to try and stop the water from coming into their houses. But they don’t have big boulders of rock, so they have to go out into the lagoon and collect little stones to fill up bags to build up their retaining wall,” Limpus explained. 

A 2011 Pacific Climate Change Science Programme (PCCSP) report highlights that sea levels have risen in the region and temperatures increased over the past 50 years by up to 0.20°C per decade, with the most significant warming recorded in Papua New Guinea and French Polynesia.  

The report describes the climate of the Pacific, which has the largest ocean in the world, in a state of transition with changes driven by human agency such as higher concentrations of greenhouse gases, and natural forces such as the El Nino/La Nina Southern Oscillation phenomenon which alter regional sea surface temperatures on a 2-7 year cycle. 

The entire region is affected. In Tuvalu and the Federated States of Micronesia, there is flooding from higher tides, food and water shortages.  

In the southwest Pacific, Papua New Guinean coastline is being eroded by higher seas and storm surges, while in the Solomon Islands, home to 552,000 people, encroaching seawater has destroyed crops, infringed burial sites and forced relocation of coastal villages on outer islands. 

During this century, the PCCSP predicts that all Pacific Islands will face continuing surface air and sea temperature increases and rise in sea levels and ocean acidity, which is also expected to reduce coastal fisheries.  

The Pacific Islands Forum, a regional inter-governmental organisation, believes that ‘climate change remains the greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the peoples of the Pacific’ and last year initiated the biennial Pacific climate change roundtable to co-ordinate regional dialogue and action. 

Most Pacific islands are also developing climate change strategies at the national level. 

The Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development (PACE-SD) at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, which conducts climate monitoring across the region and adaptation projects in rural communities, emphasised the importance of traditional knowledge of managing ecosystems. 

“Community livelihoods are dependent on the traditional knowledge which the community uses constantly to survive in the natural environment,” a spokesperson for the centre told IPS.  “It forms the basis for all adaptation and mitigation strategies.” 

Building climate resilience at the community level has been successful. In the village of Navukailagi on the island of Gau, Fiji, where there is severe coastal erosion, PACE-SD assisted with the construction of a groyne to stop flooding and a mangrove seedling nursery for planting a protective coastline forest. 

“A recent visit a month ago to this site confirmed that the shoreline had been enhanced and villagers are able to replant vegetables in an area that was previously lost,” the PACE-SD spokesperson claimed. 

However, Netatua Pelesikoti, director of climate change at the secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme in Samoa, says full implementation of climate programmes was hindered by limited resources, technology and finance as well as unrealistically short timelines for most adaptation projects. 

In August, the Australian government announced a 60 million dollar fund to support climate adaptation in the Pacific Islands and the United States government confirmed 25 million dollars to assist coastal resilience efforts. 

However, the low-lying states of Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands are already facing the prospect of forced international migration. Recently the Kiribati government that wants ‘migration with dignity’ announced negotiations to purchase land for its people in Fiji. 

The UNHCR estimates that 250 million people could be displaced globally because of climate change by 2050.  

But Pacific islanders generate less than 0.06 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and are dependent upon industrialised nations and big carbon emitters taking action to reduce global warming to less than 2° C to save their island homes, livelihoods and cultures. 

“You feel like you’re not a human being. These world leaders should just go and spend a month on these small atolls and see for themselves what it is like for our people, day in and day out,” Limpus declared.

Coastal erosion threatens a roadway on the south coast of Antigua. Credit: Desmond Brown/IPS

By Desmond Brown
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, Sep 26 2012 (IPS)

Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas remembers how quiet – even uneventful – this tiny twin-island federation was for the first four decades of his life.

But over the past 10 years, St. Kitts and Nevis, as well as the rest of the Caribbean, have seen radical climatic shifts. There is no question in Douglas’s mind that these changes are the direct results of climate change.

“Growing up, I knew nothing of hurricanes, (but) in the last decade St. Kitts and Nevis has felt the wrath of hurricanes like never before,” said Douglas, who has been the head of government here for the last 17 years.

Yet the islands of St. Kitts and Nevis are “hardly unique” in experiencing these hurricanes, Douglas said. “We can remember only too well the brutality of  (hurricanes) Ivan and Emily” in Grenada in 2004 and 2005, despite the fact that at the time, Grenada was considered “very safely nestled in the more southerly reaches of our archipelago”, he told IPS.

In July 2005 Hurricane Emily left a trail of destruction in Grenada, which was still recovering from the ravages of Hurricane Ivan the previous year.

Those who live in the region face multifaceted and troubling ramifications as a result of climate change, Douglas, who has primary responsibility for the environment and climate change in the quasi-cabinet of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), told audience members from across the region during a climate change seminar earlier in September.

The OECS is a nine-member group comprised of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands are associate members.

Douglas stressed that policymakers need to jump into action, as climate change has a dimension to it that is both urgent and existential.

“More than ever we are confronted with the threat of frequent and severe droughts, hurricanes, dwindling fish stock and all of the other threats that so clearly reflect the nature of our own island existence,” Douglas said.

Engaging the community

Michael Taylor from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) agreed with Douglas on the need for urgent action, saying the conference at which Douglas spoke was quite timely. But he added that while government involvement is key in terms of sustainability, community participation is even more critical for continuity.

“The training of civil society organisations and non-governmental organisations is critical in building general awareness to secure effective resilience of communities and their adaptation to climate change,” Taylor said.

“Unless the local population fully understands the issues and are prepared to make a commitment to participate actively, success can be jeopardised,” he said.

Last year, USAID supported a similar workshop in St. Lucia that examined climate impacts related to managing water resources. As a result, national initiatives are now being implemented in several Caribbean countries.

These include Nevis, through the development of a master plan for the water sector; rainwater harvesting in St. Vincent; and the distribution of desalinated water procured through reverse osmosis to householders in Bequia.

OECS Commissioner of St. Kitts Astonia Browne told IPS that like most small-island developing states, the environments of OECS member states and the challenges they face are characterised by their small geographic area, small open economies, limited infrastructure and high vulnerability to natural disasters. These countries must find their own way in confronting these challenges, as external funding is hard to come by.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change identifies the Caribbean region as one of the most vulnerable regions to be threatened by climate change impacts over the next 30 to 50 years. The region will have to grapple with increased temperatures, more tropical storms, flooded wetlands and coastal lowlands, sea level rise, and more.

“We cannot wait for the developed world to determine whether or not we survive climate change. Each of us must do what is within our power to act towards reducing our vulnerabilities and building our resilience,” Browne said.

She expressed concern that natural resources are degraded by practises such as poorly planned development, population growth, pollution, exploitation of resources, and more. Unless they are brought under control, countries will not be able to withstand the impacts of climate change.

They will lose the ability to “provide services and functions vital to the sustainable development of our small island economies”, Browne warned.

Preserving the tourism industry

Participants in the two-day seminar, held under the theme “Climate Change and Our Coast – Exploring Possibilities, Finding Solutions”, examined the impact of climate change on the critical sector of tourism and the policies and processes used to address these challenges.

Douglas called the implications of climate change “obvious and catastrophic for tourism”. He said that adaptation integrated across a wide range of sectors, rather than in a piecemeal fashion, is the only way the region will be able to deal with the effects of climate change.

“Tourism will be particularly hard hit by climate change. As ocean temperatures rise, many coral reefs will experience bleaching”, which leads to “decreased interests in diving and snorkelling and a significant loss in associated revenues”, he said. “With more frequent and violent storms, beaches, coastal development and coastal infrastructure will be severely threatened.”

“It has been suggested that climate change is the greatest threat that small island nations face,” Douglas said. He agreed with the idea, he continued. “Climate change compounds all the other threats and hazards that we face.”

In its efforts to protect and preserve the oceans, the Cook Islands will create a new marine park, which will allow only sustainable activities. Brian Scantlebury/CC by 2.0

By Stephen Leahy
RAROTONGA, Cook Islands, Aug 31 2012 (IPS)

The world’s smallest island nations wield more power than their sizes would suggest, with millions of square kilometres in their domains, said leaders of Pacific Island nations gathered at a special forum here in the Cook Islands.

“Our nations collectively span 40 million square kilometres of ocean, an area bigger than the surface of the moon,” said Tuiloma Neroni Slade at the opening of the 16-nation Pacific Islands Forum, of which he is secretary-general.

Leaders from member countries including New Zealand and Australia, as well as more than 500 delegates from around the world, are participating in the forum, which ended Friday. The combined exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of forum members cover close to eight percent of the planet’s surface and 10 percent of its oceans.

“Yet we probably know more about the moon’s surface than the ocean that surrounds us,” Slade told delegates earlier this week. Their states’ links to the ocean constitute an ancient relationship “that lies deep in the character and culture of every Pacific community”, he said.

“We have a deep spiritual connection to the ocean,” Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna agreed. The Cook Islands, a South Pacific nation of less than 20,000 people across 15 islands and located 2,000 kilometres northeast of New Zealand, has an EEZ of 1.8 million square kilometres.

Puna said it was important for the region and the rest of the world to recognise that though their islands are small in size and populations few in numbers, Pacific Island nations are the stewards of a large part of the world’s oceans. He called on Pacific Island nations to identify themselves as “large ocean island states”.

“We need to change mindsets and have a more balanced view…(with) our islands fully integrated into an ocean of opportunity and value.”

Coping with climate change, fostering sustainable development and protecting their ocean territories are the region’s big challenges. To meet these challenges, the 16 nations agreed to a collaborative framework for the integrated conservation management of the Pacific Ocean and Islands, known as the Pacific Oceanscape.

The world’s largest government-endorsed ocean initiative, it covers ocean health and security, governance, and sustainable resource management, and it facilitates the partnerships and cooperation needed to support the conservation of this vast ecosystem.

The Cook Islands’ contribution to the Pacific Oceanscape, announced at the forum, is to create world’s largest marine park – nearly 1.1 million square kilometres, an area bigger than France and Germany.

The new Cook Island Marine Park will be zoned for multiple uses including tourism, fishing, and potentially deep-sea mineral extraction but only if these activities can be done sustainably. The precautionary principle will determine what activities can take place, Puna said.

Inspired by Kiribati’s creation of the 400,000-square-kilometre Phoenix Islands Protected Area in 2008 and by other island nations’ conservation efforts, New Caledonia, a French overseas territory in the south Pacific, also announced the creation of a new marine protected area (MPA) roughly half the size of India.

New Caledonia’s protected zone will include the world’s largest lagoon, about 24,000 square kilometres, a government representative said. The new MPA will be adjacent to Australia’s newly protected 1 million square kilometres in the Coral Sea.

“With care, (these regions) can be maintained as enduring sources of prosperity,” he said.

“This is a huge moment in history,” said Peter Seligman, chairman of Conservation International (CI),

There is a unique and positive atmosphere in the Pacific to conserve and protect the oceans for future generations and for all of humanity, Seligman told IPS, adding that the leader of Niue had just told him “they want to do something as well”. Niue is one small island with a population of 1,400, but its EEZ is 316,000 square kilometres.

CI has worked with governments and communities of the Pacific Ocean for more than 15 years, contributing to the design of several large-scale marine conservation efforts, including the Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape, Kiribati’s Phoenix Islands Protected Area and the Pacific Oceanscape.

While there is a lot of pressure to exploit their oceans’ resources – the region has 60 percent of the world’s tuna stocks – these Pacific Island nations maintain a strong cultural connection to the oceans, Seligman said.

“They see themselves as part of the oceans,” he said. “I hope they can continue to exert their traditional wisdom and understanding.”