Dear zabeth,
When I started doing research on this topic I was sure Tuvalu was
doomed to drown as a victim of global warming, just as I have heard
and read more than once in the media. Now I was very surprised to find
the following:
“The problem, however is this: the Pacific Ocean has not risen in the
last decade. ‘The data does not support any sea-level rise at all,’
says Wolfgang Scherer, the director of Australia’s National Tidal
Facility at Flinder’s University in Adelaide. The facility, funded by
Australian aid, has over the last decade installed tide gauges across
the Pacific, including one at Tuvalu’s capital atoll, Funafuti. (...)
‘As at June 2001, based on the short-term sea level rise analyses ...
for the eight years of data return show a rate of 0.0 mm per year,
i.e. no change in average sea level over the period of record.’”
Islands ‘Sinking’ From Storm Surges, Causeway Erosion, Not Global
Warming, by Michael J. Field, PacificIslands.cc, Dec. 2001
http://www.pacificislands.cc/pm122001/pmdefault.cfm?articleid=9
"Oceans don’t rise or fall uniformly around the globe. Instead they
primarily respond to local changes in ocean temperature. Figure 1
shows the rate of sea-level change in the world’s oceans from 1993
(the first complete year of satellite data) to 1998. Tuvalu is at the
epicenter where sea level is falling.
Figure 2 shows sea-level changes since 1955. Cabanes and her
colleagues generated these figures by matching the existing satellite
data to a longer record of deep-ocean temperatures. Again, Tuvalu is
located in a region where sea level has declined for nearly 50 years!“
Virtual Climate Alert, by COČ & Climate - A Service Of The Greening
Earth Society, Oct. 2001
http://www.co2andclimate.org/Articles/2001/vca42.htm
The loss of island surface along the coastlines of Tuvalu is,
according to scientific observation results, due to natural erosion by
the surf and the effects of storms, not to a rising Pacific sea level.
"The historical record, both recent and pre-historic, shows storm
surges, which bring the sea across the land, destroying gardens, have
long been a fact of life. In places like Kiribati and Majuro, for
example, the highest point above sea level is on bridges 11 feet and
20 feet high, respectively; virtually everyone lives about five feet
above sea level. ‘That is the over-riding psychology behind it,’
Scherer says, adding that population pressures are aiding the
political drive to move people to Australia and New Zealand.“
Islands ‘Sinking’ From Storm Surges, Causeway Erosion, Not Global
Warming, by Michael J. Field, PacificIslands.cc, Dec. 2001
http://www.pacificislands.cc/pm122001/pmdefault.cfm?articleid=9
Which leads to the additional reasons why the native inhabitants of
Tuvalu should want to leave their home country. Tuvalu is, in summary,
overpopulated and has to face a number of problems:
"(...) Overfishing of lagoon & marine ressources; sand mining;
urbanisation - limited fresh water supply; waste disposal;
bio-diversity depletion due to improper use of modern technology.“
Statistics on the Pacific islands, by Carving Out - Development in the
Pacific
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/carvingout/maps/statistics.htm
Also, much of the vegetation has dissapeared because it was used as
fuel, the earth is not suitable for farming, and there are sources
of minerals or other goods or raw materials to export. The only
‘merchandize’ much in demand Tuvalu has are the .tv-domains and
telephone numbers for special phone services liable to costs. Tuvalu
is a country without noticeable economic future for its inhabitants.
Together with the fear of drowning, this is a stong argument for
leaving.
The governments of New Zealand and Australia seem to be aware of these
facts. Australia has refused the official Tuvaluan request for taking
the entire population in case they were forced to evacuate their
islands. New Zealand, however, has signalized willingness to help, as
reported by the British Broadcasting Corporation:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_1656000/1656222.stm
However, no explict plans of the government of New Zealand have
emerged and been verified by now; the general immigration quota for
citizens of certain island countries has been introduced, but this
might have no connection with the special situation of tuvalu. There
is no information on further preparations and no affirmations for
rumors and notices about a supposed plan of taking possible Tuvalu
refugees within a 50-years-relocation project.
Sources:
Islands ‘Sinking’ From Storm Surges, Causeway Erosion, Not Global
Warming, by Michael J. Field, PacificIslands.cc, Dec. 2001
http://www.pacificislands.cc/pm122001/pmdefault.cfm?articleid=9
Statistics on the Pacific islands, by Carving Out - Development in the
Pacific
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/carvingout/maps/statistics.htm
Virtual Climate Alert by COČ & Climate - A Service Of The Greening
Earth Society, Oct. 2001
http://www.co2andclimate.org/Articles/2001/vca42.htm
Australia not ‘desperate’ on asylum, by the BBC, Nov. 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_1656000/1656222.stm
New Immigration Category for Pacific Immigrants, by the Ministry of
Pacific Island Affairs of New Zealand, 2001
http://www.minpac.govt.nz/publications/newsletters/nl-mar02/immigration.php
Search terms used:
tuvalu zealand "sea level“:
://www.google.com/search?q=tuvalu+zealand+%22sea+level%22&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&newwindow=1&start=10&sa=N
tuvalu statistics "sea level“:
://www.google.de/search?q=tuvalu+statistics+%22sea+level%22&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&hl=de&meta=
I hope this was the information you were looking for.
Regards,
Scriptor |
