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Are Caribbean islands at risk of drowning like Tuvalu?
exploring concerns of rising sea levels in the Caribbean

By Dawn Marie Roper, Freelance Writer

Kingston, 30 January 2006 ( Panos) Tuvalu - the fourth smallest nation in the world - is sinking, at least as compared with the surrounding seas. With a total land area of 10 square miles Tuvalu ’s highest point is only 15 feet or 4 metres high - a factor that makes it very vulnerable to sea-level rises caused by climate change.

“The majority of Tuvalu is less than two metres above sea level. This is an incredibly vulnerable country,” says Stephanie Long, climate justice campaigner from Friends of the Earth Australia, while describing the dire circumstances of Tuvalu . “During peak tide the airstrip was under water.”

Long was speaking at a conference on climate change held in Canada recently.  Ocean scientists have recorded sea-level rise of about one-sixth of an inch every year. Tuvaluans have long been suffering the effects. During high tides, seawater seeps through the ground, destroying crops, damaging roads, flooding houses and even washing out graves. It is a traumatic situation for the people, who are chiefly subsistence farmers and fishermen. Many are attached to their ancestral homes and are reluctant to leave Tuvalu despite the constant flooding from the sea.

The former British colony shares common characteristics with Caribbean islands. Tuvalu enjoys a tropical climate and like the Caribbean region, the Pacific has reported an increase in the number and intensity of cyclones over the years. The cyclones batter Tuvalu ’s economy as they completely destroy banana and coconut cultivations.

Tuvalu ’s population has already started to migrate to places like Australia , New Zealand and other pacific islands. But the country’s officials realise that the ultimate solution for its 10,200 inhabitants is total abandonment of the atolls - Tuvalu comprises nine coral atolls lying north east of Australia and north of New Zealand . As Stephanie Long pointed out, if and when this happens Tuvalu faces total loss of its culture. It is a painful prospect for any nation.

The tiny islands of Tuvalu are extremely beautiful - similar to those in the Caribbean . But unlike the Caribbean , Tuvalu has not been able to capitalise much on tourism because of its remoteness. And now because of sea-level rise, any prospect of encouraging more tourism is unlikely.

But what about the Caribbean ? Could sea level rise force an evacuation of the islands?

“We do have concerns about rising sea levels, although none of our islands is threatened, for now at least,” says Anthony Deyal, Public Education and Outreach Specialist for the Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change (MACC) project in the Caribbean .

Climate change is often used to refer to the ongoing changes in modern climate, including the average rise in surface temperature known as global warming. Some effects of climate change include rising sea levels, warmer sea-surface temperatures and possible increases in severe weather events. Some researchers say that the number and strength of hurricanes, tornadoes, and other events has increased over the last 15 - 20 years. However, scientists are still looking into this .

Last year the Caribbean experienced what was possibly the busiest hurricane season ever. According to weather reports, there were 22 named storms in 2005 surpassing the record of 21 set in 1933 . Thirteen of the storms were hurricanes, edging by one the previous record set in 1969. Seven of the hurricanes were considered major . For 2006, meteorologists have predicted 17 named storms while explaining that nine of them could become hurricanes.

But the Caribbean is most concerned about other aspects of climate change, even as sea level rise threatens to ‘sink’ Tuvalu . It seems global warming poses a more serious threat to Caribbean tourism, the lifeblood of its economies, than does sea level rise.

“If the Caribbean becomes too warm, or if the northern countries experience milder winters, this may result in a shift in tourist destinations,” warns www.caribbeanclimate.org, the website of the Caribbean Community Centre for Climate Change (CCCCC).

So can rising sea-levels be ignored in the Caribbean?

According to “Concepts and Issues in Climate Change” a handbook for Caribbean Journalists published by the MACC project, saline intrusion from sea-level rise threatens territories like Antigua & Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis and Trinidad & Tobago. Although Caribbean islands are not ‘sinking’, they frequently suffer coastal flooding from high storm surges. But whether the source of the flooding is gradual sea-level rise or intense storm surges the effects are devastating. Caribbean islands have already lost coastal ecosystems, suffered infrastructural damage, destruction of crops and loss of life.