[NetBehaviour] 5 Islands in the South Pacific Completely Lost to Rising Seas (fwd)
{ brad brace }
bbrace at eskimo.com
Wed May 11 16:45:21 CEST 2016
Five vegetated reef islands in the Pacifics Solomon Islands
have disappeared because of coastal erosion and sea level
rise, according to a study published in Environmental
Research Letters that confirmed numerous anecdotal accounts
of extreme shoreline changes. Many homes are close to sea
level on the Solomons. Many homes are close to sea level on
the Solomons. At least six more islands are also
experiencing severe erosion. The islands ranged from one to
five hectares, supported dense tropical vegetation and two
islands were home to fishing communities that had to be
relocated. Low-lying reef islands in the Solomon Islands
provide a valuable window into the future impacts of global
sea-level rise. Sea-level rise has been predicted to cause
widespread erosion and inundation of low-lying atolls in the
central Pacific. However, the limited research on reef
islands in the western Pacific indicates the majority of
shoreline changes and inundation to date result from extreme
events, seawalls and inappropriate development rather than
sea-level rise alone. Here, we present the first analysis of
coastal dynamics from a sea-level rise hotspot in the
Solomon Islands. Using time series aerial and satellite
imagery from 1947 to 2014 of 33 islands, along with
historical insight from local knowledge, we have identified
five vegetated reef islands that have vanished over this
time period and a further six islands experiencing severe
shoreline recession. Shoreline recession at two sites has
destroyed villages that have existed since at least 1935,
leading to community relocations. Rates of shoreline
recession are substantially higher in areas exposed to high
wave energy, indicating a synergistic interaction between
sea-level rise and waves. Understanding these local factors
that increase the susceptibility of islands to coastal
erosion is critical to guide adaptation responses for these
remote Pacific communities. Coastal erosion in the Solomon
Islands over recent decades is causing unprecedented threats
to the biota on these fragile islands and the subsistence
communities who inhabit them. The isolation from predators
that these offshore islands provide makes them critical
nesting habitats for many endangered sea turtles and birds.
The south Pacific's largest rookery of Hawksbill turtles on
the nearby Arnavon islands has been threatened in recent
years due to substantial beach recession (Poloczanska et al
2009). In addition to ecological impacts, over the past two
decades, many coastal communities have become increasingly
vulnerable to receding shorelines and inundation from
extreme water levels (Hoeke et al 2013). Inundation severity
and frequency has become unacceptable for several
communities and relocation has occurred on an ad hoc basis.
In Nuatambu village on northern Choiseul over 50% of houses
have been washed into the ocean as a result of dramatic
shoreline recession. Residents of Nuatambu described the
shoreline recession as incremental over several years,
rather than related to a specific storm or wave event as
experienced elsewhere in the region (Hoeke et al 2013). Many
families have relocated to the adjacent high volcanic island
of Choiseul; however some economically disadvantaged
families have re-built temporary housing in increasingly
vulnerable areas of Nuatambu. The relocation to the adjacent
high island has not been conducted in a systematic way to
ensure this small insular community remains intact; instead
families have moved to areas of land they have customary
tenure claims over. In the case of Nuatambu, families have
spread out over five separate areas in small hamlets. In
Mararo village on eastern Malaita relocation as a result of
coastal erosion has been more orderly with the entire
community making the decision to relocate from the coast to
a high elevation site 20 m above sea level. Interestingly in
this case the community had historically lived in a high
elevation site prior to being encouraged by missionaries
down to the coast in the early 20th century. In addition to
these village relocations, Taro, the capital of Choiseul
Province is set to become the first provincial capital
globally to relocate residents and services due to the
threat of sea-level rise. Coastal erosion in the Solomon
Islands over recent decades is causing unprecedented threats
to the biota on these fragile islands and the subsistence
communities who inhabit them. The isolation from predators
that these offshore islands provide makes them critical
nesting habitats for many endangered sea turtles and birds.
The south Pacific's largest rookery of Hawksbill turtles on
the nearby Arnavon islands has been threatened in recent
years due to substantial beach recession (Poloczanska et al
2009). In addition to ecological impacts, over the past two
decades, many coastal communities have become increasingly
vulnerable to receding shorelines and inundation from
extreme water levels (Hoeke et al 2013). Inundation severity
and frequency has become unacceptable for several
communities and relocation has occurred on an ad hoc basis.
In Nuatambu village on northern Choiseul over 50% of houses
have been washed into the ocean as a result of dramatic
shoreline recession. Residents of Nuatambu described the
shoreline recession as incremental over several years,
rather than related to a specific storm or wave event as
experienced elsewhere in the region (Hoeke et al 2013). Many
families have relocated to the adjacent high volcanic island
of Choiseul; however some economically disadvantaged
families have re-built temporary housing in increasingly
vulnerable areas of Nuatambu. The relocation to the adjacent
high island has not been conducted in a systematic way to
ensure this small insular community remains intact; instead
families have moved to areas of land they have customary
tenure claims over. In the case of Nuatambu, families have
spread out over five separate areas in small hamlets. In
Mararo village on eastern Malaita relocation as a result of
coastal erosion has been more orderly with the entire
community making the decision to relocate from the coast to
a high elevation site 20 m above sea level. Interestingly in
this case the community had historically lived in a high
elevation site prior to being encouraged by missionaries
down to the coast in the early 20th century. In addition to
these village relocations, Taro, the capital of Choiseul
Province is set to become the first provincial capital
globally to relocate residents and services due to the
threat of sea-level rise.Conclusion This study represents
the first assessment of shoreline change from the Solomon
Islands, a global sea-level rise hotspot. We have documented
five vegetated reef islands (15 ha in size) that have
recently vanished and a further six islands experiencing
severe shoreline recession. Shoreline recession at two sites
has destroyed villages that have existed since at least
1935, leading to community relocations. The large range of
erosion severity on the islands in this study highlights the
critical need to understand the complex interplay between
the projected accelerating sea-level rise, other changes in
global climate such as winds and waves, and local tectonics,
to guide future adaptation planning and minimise social
impacts.
===
On an island, a place of edges, the ocean provides a counter-narrative, nonlinear in
what it reveals; "time's arrow" is modified by the rhythmic cycle of the sea as it
encounters, and ever transforms, the shore. Historical, archaeological, or even
narrative knowledge is challenged by its meeting with the sea that offers up its own
kind of knowing. We need to stretch, even confound, our usual frames to take account
of such knowledge.
special daily yasawa islands mp4s (small short films)
now available for free download
http://www.eskimo.com/~bbrace/undisclosed.html
http://archive.org/details/globalislandsproject
(remote Fiji WAYA/YASAWAS islands:)
Island 8.0 is now available online!
====================================
http://bbrace.net/islands/island8/island8.html
http://bradbrace.net/islands/island8/island8.html
Global Islands Project -- ongoing series of multi-media pdf-ebooks/field-recordings -- a
pastoral, pictorial and phonic elicitation of island parameters. An intensive
examination of small islands and their paradigmatic solutions to globalism...
Ethnographically a shared world of historical experience -- not the romanticized and
divided universe of them and us.
Your feudal-world is based on mutual relief at your common corruption. Maybe some
cultures are based on even worse. But that wouldn't change the bad faith of it and as
years go by, you wake at night in terror of your whole life being an act of shattered
faith, where everything is self-interest and nothing more, where every human
interaction is driven by a silent, even subconscious calculation of some ulterior
motive, to the point that a sea of bad faith has taken over your whole life, there's no
small island left from which you can even try to build a bridge of good faith, because
even that effort becomes suspect, even good faith is nothing but self-interested, even
altruism is nothing but solipsistic, even your professed agonizing right here right now
is nothing but a gesture, made to the conscience in order to assure it that it exists.
Deglobalisation is not a synonym for withdrawing from the world economy. It means a
process of restructuring the world economic and political system so that the latter
builds the capacity of local and national economies instead of degrading it.
Deglobalisation means the transformation of a global economy from one integrated
around the needs of transnational corporations to one integrated around the needs of
peoples, nations, and communities. We cannot talk about construction without
deconstruction, reintegration without disintegration.
The world (universe) is mostly filled with the black hole (or the vast and deep sea )
of the forgotten. Compared with this, the world of memory is only a small island in
the vast "sea of oblivion."
http://bradbrace.net/id.html
http://bbrace.net/id.html
Island 1.0 is Ambergris Caye, Belize
Island 2.0 is Koh Si Chang, Thailand
Island 3.0 is Lamu, Kenya
Island 4.0 is Narikel Jingira, Bangladesh
Island 5.0 is Isla Mais, Nicaragua
Island 6.0 are The Grenadines, West Indies
Island 7.0 is Hateruma (Yaeyama), Japan
Island 8.0 is Waya (Yasawa), Fiji
Global Islands Project:
Island 8.0 -> http://bbrace.net/islands/island8/island8.html
or http://bradbrace.net/islands/island8/island8.html
-- over 1500 images and hour-long audiotrack -- 750mb -- (acrobat 6)
***
http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_1.0
http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_2.0
http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_3.0
http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_4.0
http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_5.0
http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_6.0
http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_7.0
http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_8.0
***
Global Islands Project -- ongoing series of multi-media pdf-books -- a
pastoral, pictorial and phonic elicitation of island parameters...
A traveller, who has lost their way, should not ask, 'Where am I?' What s/he
really wants to know is, 'Where are the other places?'
Ni sa yali ga na noda itovo, sa oti sara ga o keda.
(When we lose our culture, we are nothing.)
Vientos del pueblo me llevan
Vientos del pueblo me arrastran
Me eparcen mi corazon
Ye me aventan la garganta
http://www.bbrace.net/id.html
http://bradbrace.net/id.html
bbs: brad brace sound
http://69.64.229.114:8000
http://www.bbrace.net/undisclosed.html
Waters Colours:
http://bradbrace.net/webgallerywc/wc.html
Eroticized Japanese/Malaysian Snack Foods:
http://bradbrace.net/greenscreen.html
Additional GIP texts/blog:
http://bbrace.net/wordpress/
http://bradbrace.net/wordpress/
12 mailing list:
You cannot politically defy the institutions when all you really wanted
was to be clasped to their bosoms and hope in time to be cherished under
the very framework of oppressive values you are thinking of overcoming.
That would be co-optation, revolution only in the sense of a circulation
of elites rather than the extirpation of the very impulses of elitism.
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