Relocating An Entire Country To Escape Climate Change

You think the preparations your coastal town are considering making to accommodate rising seal levels are onerous? Well read about the Pacific island nation of Kiribati, who are considering the need to move their entire populace to Fiji.

1 minute read

March 11, 2012, 11:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


Brit Liggett reports on the dilemma faced by the 100,000 residents of Kiribati, a nation composed of 32 atolls in the Pacific Ocean, and "one of the first places that will be destroyed if sea levels rise as predicted through this century."

In a desperate, but prudent plan, "Kiribati leaders are currently mulling a major decision to purchase 6,000 acres of land on Fiji's main island for $9.6 million as insurance against a submerged future. If necessary, they could move their entire permanent population of just over 100,000 onto the land in Fiji," writes Liggett.

As the effects of climate change worsen amidst an international deadlock on potential solutions to head off the worst predicted outcomes, the people of Kiribati are surely not the last to have to make such monumental decisions.

Friday, March 9, 2012 in Inhabitat

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