The far-flung Marshall Islands needs to raise its islands if it is to avoid being drowned by rising sea levels, President Hilda Heine has warned.
Plans are underway for national talks on which of the 1,156 islands, scattered over 29 coral atolls, can be elevated, in a dramatic intervention to ensure safety on the islands.
“Raising our islands is a daunting task but one that must be done,” Heine said in an interview with the Marshall Islands Journal published Friday. “We must come together as a nation as this is about our survival as a nation, as a people and as a culture.”
Photo: AP
照片：美聯社
A “climate crisis” policy document prepared by the office of the chief secretary painted a bleak outlook for the Pacific Ocean archipelago with a population of 55,000.
It cited an increasing frequency of “inundation events, severe droughts, coral bleaching events, and... looking forward, there is very good reason to believe that conditions and prospects for survival will only worsen.”
Most of the islands are less than two meters above sea level and the government believes physically raising the islands was the only way to save the Marshall Islands from extinction.
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
They have not yet outlined specifics of how this would be achieved, except to have plans formulated by the end of the year.
In the meantime, they are keeping a close watch on the ambitious City of Hope project on an artificial island in the Maldives as a viable option.
To lay the foundations of the city — which is expected to accommodate 130,000 people when completed in 2023 — sand is being pumped onto reefs from surrounding atolls and it is being fortified with walls three meters above sea level, which will make it higher than the tallest natural island in the Maldives.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
照片：維基共享資源
“Whatever approach is selected, it will involve selecting islands to raise, add to, or build upon” Heine said.
The Marshall Islands also aims to increase engagement with the three other all-atoll nations — Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Maldives — on climate issues.
“As a group, the atoll nations need to come together to formulate their unique concerns and develop their positions and plans and identify financial needs related to climate impacts,” said Heine, who chairs the Coalition of Atoll Nations Against Climate Change.
(AFP)
馬紹爾群島共和國的國土星羅棋布，該國總統希爾達‧海妮警告說，若要避免國土因海平面上升而被淹沒，馬紹爾群島需要把陸地墊高。
該國目前正籌畫全國性會談，以討論這些散布在二十九個珊瑚環礁上的一千一百五十六個島嶼中，哪些可以用這戲劇性的方法來墊高，以確保島嶼的安全。
「墊高我們的島是個艱鉅的任務，但不得不做」，海妮在接受上週五刊出的《馬紹爾週報》採訪時表示。「作為一個國家，我們必須團結起來，因為這攸關我們國家、民族和文化的存亡。」
由馬國內閣秘書長辦公室所編纂的「氣候危機」政策書，對這有五萬五千人口的太平洋群島所描繪的前景，非常不樂觀。
政策書中說，會有越來越頻繁的「洪水氾濫、嚴重乾旱、珊瑚白化...放眼未來，我們有足夠的理由認為生存條件和前景只會惡化」。
馬紹爾群島大多數島嶼的海拔不到兩公尺，政府認為把島嶼實際上墊高，是拯救該國免於滅亡的唯一途徑。
除了預定將在今年制訂計畫，政府尚未具體說明要如何實施。
該國政府同時也密切關注馬爾地夫雄心勃勃的「希望之城」人工島計畫，將其視為可行的選項。
預計在二○二三年完工後可容納十三萬人的「希望之城」，奠定地基的方式是由周圍的環礁將沙子灌到珊瑚礁上，並且以海拔三公尺高的牆加以鞏固，這會比馬爾地夫最高的自然島嶼還要高。
「無論採用何種方法，都會牽涉選擇來墊高、擴增或建基的島嶼」，海妮說。
馬紹爾群島的目標還包括加強與其他三個國土皆為環礁形成的國家──吉里巴斯、吐瓦魯和馬爾地夫──在氣候問題上的合作。
身兼「環礁國家因應氣候變遷聯盟」主席的海妮說道：「作為一個共同體，環礁國家需要聯合起來，一起對他們所獨有的問題制定對策、闡述其立場和計畫，並明確提出和氣候衝擊相關的財政需求」。
(台北時報林俐凱編譯)
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