Climate Change – Indonesian archipelago – Papua New Guinea

EDIS Number: CC-20100729-27196-PNG
Date / time: 29/07/2010 12:16:08 [UTC]
Event: Climate Change
Area: Indonesian archipelago
Country: Papua New Guinea
State/County: Bougainville
City: Unknow
Number of Deads: None or unknow
Number of Injured: None or unknow
Damage level: Minor

Description:

Residents of the Carteret Islands off Papua New Guinea have been pleading for help from the international community since their homes began sinking into the ocean. The Carteret Islands, which have been described as the world's first climate change islands, are slowly disappearing under the Pacific Ocean. Because rising water has been flooding crops and spoiling water supplies, islanders will soon be turned into refugees, with some already making for nearby Bougainville. The few who have left are now pleading for help to save their relatives from sinking along with their island homes. So far only two families out of the total population of 2,300 have moved to Bougainville. The isolated islands are now suffering from food shortages and violence, with people fighting over the few resources available. The Carteret Islanders have been in the news over the past few years because of the fact that they will be largely uninhabited by 2015 because of imminent flooding.

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