Climate Change Resilience
18 November, UNFCCC, Warsaw Poland - All eyes were on Kiribati, here at the 19th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention to Climate Change. Poland, Kiribati to be more exact.
Poland is one of four villages on Christmas Island in Kiribati and was featured in a special movie showcased at the opening of the UN climate change talks.
The short movie presented day-to-day life of the native community.
It underlined threats of global warming that are visible for the inhabitants of this small island, as they have to wait for the rainy days to get a drinking water.
It was also mentioned that due to rising level of the Oceans, the area of the island decreases year by year what will drive one day into a float of the island.
On the island of Abaiang in Kiribati, this is already happening.
The village of Tebunginako on Abaiang began relocating their village 5 years ago, after 30 meters from the shore was not far enough. Only permanent buildings such as the Roman Catholic Church and the Meeting house remain in the original location. Now at 50 metres from the shoreline a second relocation may need to be considered. Each day at high tide a handful of houses and the biggest buildings of the village would be surrounded by a saltwater moat.
It is this reality that is behind the pleas of the island nation at the UN climate talks in Warsaw.
The delegation met with the President of the 19th Conference of the Parties, Marcin Korolec, Minister of Environment, Poland, for which adopting the approach of inclusiveness in this process, was discussed.
"I said that was a challenge to the COP President as he is trying to demonstrate that as many different parties with many different perspectives are to be included," said Mr. Terieta Mwemwenikeaki, Deputy Secretary Office of the President, Kiribati.
"For Kiribati we are here to negotiate for our survival, not for our interests. I hope there is understanding between the difference of interest and survival. We are negotiating as a Kiribati people, for our way of life."
The island nation is working to adapt as much as possible to the impacts of climate change with a number of different projects underway, however given the effects they are feeling today, more adaptation work is needed.
Other work underway has been the development of a Climate change and disaster risk management joint national plan of action called the KJIP, Kiribati Joint Implementation Plan.
Mr. Terieta Mwemwenikeaki, Deputy Secretary Office of the President, Kiribati
"The major challenge we face is financial support for our coastal erosion, one of the biggest impacts we have. We have a national Kiribati Adaptation Plan for which we still need support from partners to complete."
"We ourselves are doing what we can, to the point of our communities carrying out mangrove planting activities, but this is not enough."
According to a Kiribati Government Wesbsite, over the past 40 years the villagers of Tebunginako on Abaiang, has seen the sea rise, storm surges become more frequent and spring tides more forceful. Food supply is in retreat as the fresh water milk fish that the fresh water milkfish that once fed the entire village are long gone, and plant life is fatally overdosing on salt. Taro, a starchy vegetable that grows in groundwater pits more than 200 metres from the coast is increasingly killed by king tides.
Each year, villagers need to head further inland to find fresh food and water, but Kiribati's 33 coral atolls and islands are skinny and average a height above sea level of only two metres. Inland only goes back so far.
For Kiribati, the reduction of global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is crucial.
Terieta Mwemwenikeaki emphasies - "I say it again, we are negotiating for our survival, not out interests,"
Poland is one of four villages on Christmas Island in Kiribati and was featured in a special movie showcased at the opening of the UN climate change talks.
The short movie presented day-to-day life of the native community.
It underlined threats of global warming that are visible for the inhabitants of this small island, as they have to wait for the rainy days to get a drinking water.
It was also mentioned that due to rising level of the Oceans, the area of the island decreases year by year what will drive one day into a float of the island.
Tebunginako villagers stand in the sea where their village used to be. They had to relocate their village because of rising sea levels, erosion and saltwater inundation.
Photo: Justin McManus/The Age
Photo: Justin McManus/The Age
On the island of Abaiang in Kiribati, this is already happening.
The village of Tebunginako on Abaiang began relocating their village 5 years ago, after 30 meters from the shore was not far enough. Only permanent buildings such as the Roman Catholic Church and the Meeting house remain in the original location. Now at 50 metres from the shoreline a second relocation may need to be considered. Each day at high tide a handful of houses and the biggest buildings of the village would be surrounded by a saltwater moat.
It is this reality that is behind the pleas of the island nation at the UN climate talks in Warsaw.
The delegation met with the President of the 19th Conference of the Parties, Marcin Korolec, Minister of Environment, Poland, for which adopting the approach of inclusiveness in this process, was discussed.
"I said that was a challenge to the COP President as he is trying to demonstrate that as many different parties with many different perspectives are to be included," said Mr. Terieta Mwemwenikeaki, Deputy Secretary Office of the President, Kiribati.
"For Kiribati we are here to negotiate for our survival, not for our interests. I hope there is understanding between the difference of interest and survival. We are negotiating as a Kiribati people, for our way of life."
The island nation is working to adapt as much as possible to the impacts of climate change with a number of different projects underway, however given the effects they are feeling today, more adaptation work is needed.
Other work underway has been the development of a Climate change and disaster risk management joint national plan of action called the KJIP, Kiribati Joint Implementation Plan.
Mr. Terieta Mwemwenikeaki, Deputy Secretary Office of the President, Kiribati"The major challenge we face is financial support for our coastal erosion, one of the biggest impacts we have. We have a national Kiribati Adaptation Plan for which we still need support from partners to complete."
"We ourselves are doing what we can, to the point of our communities carrying out mangrove planting activities, but this is not enough."
According to a Kiribati Government Wesbsite, over the past 40 years the villagers of Tebunginako on Abaiang, has seen the sea rise, storm surges become more frequent and spring tides more forceful. Food supply is in retreat as the fresh water milk fish that the fresh water milkfish that once fed the entire village are long gone, and plant life is fatally overdosing on salt. Taro, a starchy vegetable that grows in groundwater pits more than 200 metres from the coast is increasingly killed by king tides.
Each year, villagers need to head further inland to find fresh food and water, but Kiribati's 33 coral atolls and islands are skinny and average a height above sea level of only two metres. Inland only goes back so far.
For Kiribati, the reduction of global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is crucial.
Terieta Mwemwenikeaki emphasies - "I say it again, we are negotiating for our survival, not out interests,"