Kiribati will raise its islands above the ocean as part of its fight against sea-level rise, seeking help from its new diplomatic partner China to secure the archipelagic nation’s future, the country’s newly re-elected president has said. In his first in-depth interview since his resounding election win in June, Taneti Maamau told the Guardian international co-operation would be on Kiribati’s terms: he said he would not accept large loans “from any country”, and would not allow China to build a base on Kiribati’s strategically significant Christmas Island, south of Hawaii.
“We are also working with New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research to develop a long-term coastal security strategy for Kiribati,” Maamau said. “The strategy is still in development but clearly identifies raising our islands as a way forward in our fight against climate change. This is also clearly demonstrated in our national climate change policy.” Maamau has enlisted the advice of Professor Paul Kench, dean of science at Simon Fraser University in Canada, and a leading researcher on the response of atolls to sea-level changes.
To solve chronic flooding in the overcrowded capital, Tarawa, Kench has proposed replacing causeways – landfill between islands that supports the main road but which can cause beach erosion – with an elevated bridge road running the entire length of the atoll on the sheltered lagoon side. It is the sort of massive infrastructure project China might fund, and has the expertise to engineer. China recently built a long bridge between Male and its airport in the Maldives. Maamau has rejected migration as a strategy, arguing studies have shown the islands can survive with the right adaptation measures, and saying the people of Kiribati will not be forced to leave.
Source: Guardian
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