Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Anthropology Drowning Islands Drowning Islands All over the world indigenous communities are faced with an array of new problems, though the public continues to gain insight into the lives of these people they continue to be marginalized in the global arena as well. The Pacific Islands are an entity far removed from the minds of most westerners. The primary focus of any political discourse within the United States places most emphasis on Australia and New Zealand ignoring the smaller less politically salient states. However, it is these smaller islands that will bare the brunt of one huge problem in the future, global warming. For the purpose of this paper I will ignore the polemics of global warming and not hypothesize whether or not it actually has any permanent adverse effects on the ecosystems of the world or whether or not it is cyclical. Instead, I will focus on the evidence already documented within the Pacific Island states, evidence which lends strong support to the notion that the earth is getting warmer and the oceans are rising. For the people of the lowland Pacific Islands it doesn’t matter if the current warming is a temporary trend that will reverse itself in a few centuries, they will have to deal with it on a much more short-term basis. The ocean has already begun to change and for the people of the Pacific Islands that is a major concern, it could be catastrophic if left unattended. The prospect of rising waters in the oceans has a transcendent effect on the Pacific Islands. Not only will the oceans rise and the seas become more torrent, their very cultures could be uprooted and their modes of existence forever changed, the extent of this will be discussed later. Recently a new study conducted by the National Oceanographic Data Center in Silver Spring, Maryland presented definitive evidence of global warming. Their analysis which came out in march documents one of the Pacific Islanders greatest fears, the oceans are getting warmer. Not only have increased temperatures been noticed on dry-land but also in the oceans, which is even more frightening. It is worse because the oceans absorb a lot of the atmospheric heat if it weren’t for that the land temperatures would be even higher. And with the polar ice caps receding the mean oceanic sea level is also rising. Speaking strictly in terms of the next hundred years the islands with the lowest altitudes are of greatest concern in regard to swelling oceans. Low-lying island states and atolls are especially vulnerable to climate change and associated sea-level rise because in many cases much of the terrain rarely exceeds 3-4m above present mean sea level. This is not to say that the other higher islands will escape unscathed from rising sea levels. For them the problem isn’t necessarily complete immersion but the alteration of costal zones is of concern. It is in these regions that most of the main settlements are and a majority of the vital economic infrastructures, making them very vulnerable. The ecosystems of the ocean are particularly sensitive to slight but permanent changes in the average surface temperature of the earth. For the people of the Pacific Islands this is crucial connected to their future. First, the coral reefs that are in the shallow waters surrounding many of the pacific islands are incredibly fragile to begin with. The seawater temperatures that are gradually getting warmer and warmer can destroy a coral reef ecosystem easily. Elevated seawater temperatures damage corals by bleaching and impairing their reproductive functions. The depletion in the vitality of the coral reefs affects all the marine ecosystems in the surrounding areas. Think back to the people of Satawal, they lack sustainable fishing in the immediate area surrounding their island, instead they rely on the sustenance of other fishing areas in their proximity. They will be faced with a major dilemma when the fishing starts to go down hill there as well. If the reefs die the first domino in a vicious cycle falls and the rest of the reef’s inhabitants, namely the fish, will eventually die out as well. In a study released by Green peace, projections were made about the impact of warming water on the coral and fish. The study said that reef fishing would decrease by 25-50 percent, pelagic fishing by 10-25 percent, leading to a gross domestic product contraction of 40-50 percent in the small Polynesian and Micronesia nations. Less bleak studies have shrunk those figures by approximately five percent each, which remains problematic. The prospect of a depletion in fishing is a real issue for the small islands that depend only on themselves to fish, they lack the option of importing fish from more abundant fishing areas. In addition to coral destruction, the oceanic currents are changing due to increased water temperatures. This coupled with changes in the stratification of the sea water affects the swimming patterns of the fish. The fish relocate to the areas where the water is the right temperature for them to survive, meanwhile the natives continue to fish using their traditional knowledge. Although the relocation of fish is slight at this juncture, in the near future it will be more noticeable. At least two motu, or small islets, have already disappeared in Kiribati. Up until a decade ago fisherman would use the area as a resting place. They would beach their boats and drink coconut milk as the sought refuge from the sea, today you find nothing but water. This is a comparatively trivial example of the way oceanic swelling alters fishing in the islands, the future prospects are far more serious than simply an inconvenience. Coastal erosion is another complication that accompanies the changing weather patterns and rising sea levels. The rising sea levels and receding coastlines have two major affects. First, the salinity of the ground water in the land close to the coast will increase dramatically, second the beaches will be damaged by this. The salinity of the land is a major problem for the people of the Pacific Islands. Salt is poison to most land plants, i.e. breadfruit and tarot, once the salinity becomes too high the plants die and the soil is useless. The people of the Pacific Islands rely on several different plants that are essential to their diets and need soil with low salinity levels in order to grow. The people of the islands are noticing that the ground is not as fertile as it once was forcing them to alter their diets. The problem of salinity levels in the soil only afflicts the lowest of areas at this point, in the future the agriculturally detrimental salt water will ascend further inland, further contracting the growing areas. Once again, this is serious because these people rely on the resources at hand to provide the staples of their diet, their methods of foraging and farming are inherent in their cultures. What would they do if the ground could no longer support tarot? Not only would their nutrition suffer, tarot is part of every day life. It is used in feasts not simply because it is food but also because of it’s symbolic and ceremonial significance. In the pictures we looked at on the second to last day of class many of them had the tarot plant present. This was striking to me because it seemed like the intrinsic value of the tarot is only half of it’s importance. The implications of crop destruction for the people of the Pacific Islands is not only of nutritional significance, the cultural aspect is equally weighed. Tawati Uati works for a community theater company in Kiribati, and is in charge of producing plays that address conservation issues. In regards to the increased salinity levels in the soil he said this, “It does have an impact on breadfruit trees because they are easily affected by saltwater. Every time the breadfruit tree sucks that salty water, it just dies.” One resident of Tuvalu said that she had resorted to growing her taro in old kerosene cans because the soil in her village had been destroyed. Recently in the Pacific Islands an undeniable increase in “freak storms” has been observed, scientist attribute this to the el Nino weather phenomenon, which has become markedly more frequent and intense over the past two decades. Some sceptics blame the increased beach erosion on the local inhabitants who use what they’ve deemed inappropriate land-use practices. However, what can explain the erosion on the islands where there is no immediate development along the coasts? Nearly all the islands have noticed an increase in the destruction of low-lying man made structures. Bridges, causeways, and sea walls are being washed out more frequently than ever before. The increase in tropical storms has already begun to destroy some of the beaches skirting the islands. For people who rely heavily on tourism revenue this is just one more are of concern for them. The people of the Pacific Islands are afraid that with the increase in beach erosion and unpredictable weather patterns, people’s desire to visit may wane as the problem worsens. The impact of the collapse of the tourism industry would be catastrophic for many inhabitants of the islands, the revenue generated from tourism affects nearly everyone. Another point of concern for the people of the Pacific Islands is a depletion in available fresh water. On the islands fresh water amounts have been declining thanks to the droughts and the increase in salt in the groundwater. In the high-lands of Papua New Guinea, Australia spent 40 million U.S. dollars air-lifting food to the isolated area because the inhabitants were nearly starving due to the poor crop yield from the drought. The droughts and tainted groundwater have led to major decreases in crop production on the islands. Last year Fiji’s sugar cane production, which normally provides 40% of it’s export earnings, was more than halved. If the droughts continue aid from foreign countries will become a necessity to the people who are at the mercy of the weather to grow food. And for the larger islands who have significant export markets the economies will continue to suffer. Two things in particular are going to be of the greatest importance to the people of the pacific islands as far as abating the problem of global warming is concerned, solidarity and international awareness. The first of the two contingents the people of the islands have the most control of. They are aware of what is happening, they don’t read about rising water levels in the Washington Post, it is right in front of them every day. The island of Tuvalu provides a good example of the Pacific people’s insistence on maintaining unanimity in the fight against global warming. Last year New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff said, “...Australia and other Pacific nations would welcome Tuvalu citizens who might be required to leave their homeland.” This would be effective in saving the people’s lives but would surely lead to culture shock. Second to the Pacific Islanders fight against global warming is international awareness. The European Union and Asia have shown sympathy and willingness to help the people of the Pacific but the most important player, the U.S. has stayed on the sidelines. Bush’s negligence concerning the Kyoto agreement doesn’t bode well for the islands. The United States dependence on coal and governmental ties to the oil industry, Exxon, Chevron, etc. has caused an uproar in the Pacific Island communities. As the U.S. has proved unwilling to fully apply itself to lessening emissions of C02 gasses. An article in National Geographic provides a chilling anecdote on global warming. “The nightmare is always thus:The princesses glide down Washington D.C.’s Constitution Avenue on their rainbow-colored floats,...All is in readiness for another edition of America’s annual National Cherry Blossom Festival. All except for the cherry blossoms. Once again the flowers have come and gone. The culprit: too much warm weather too soon. After the balmiest U.S. winter on record, people will complain about the second earliest Washington cherry blossom peak...Almost no one disputes the fact that a substantial rise in sea level would be a bad thing, inundating first a number of oceanic nations such as the Marshall Islands and Vanuatu in the Pacific, and the moving on to eat up places like Manhattan and the world’s other great coastal cities...The plight of Washington’s cherry blossoms pale by comparison. The National Park Service is making no promises, but barring a catastrophic petal-scattering storm, it appears there will be enough blossoms around on April 9th to avoid total embarrassment at this years parade. Bibliography: Smith, Donald National Geographic News@nattionalgeographic.com Pacific Islands Report GPI Atlantic www.gpiatlantic.org Vanishing Islands www.ourplanet.com Warming Hits Hard in Pacific www.ABCNEWS.com Environmental News Network www.ENN.com Word Count: 2098
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