Sea level rise, erosion and flooding are some of the biggest dangers of climate change, and now, a new study is linking human-caused global warming to the destructive sea-level rise of the Pacific Ocean that has led to the swallowing of five Solomon Islands.
"The sea has started to come inland, it forced us to move up to the hilltop and rebuild our village there away from the sea," said Sirilo Sutaroti, a leader of the Paurata tribe describing the rise of the sea.
Despite the low population density of the Solomon Islands, which consists of six main islands and almost a thousand others, finding a safe home has become a challenge for residents due to the increased sea-level rise.
"There are large volcanic islands where people can relocate to," said Simon Albert of The University of Queensland, Australia and co-author of the study, although he added that these relocations can be tense. "The majority of land is tightly controlled by traditional owners - so moving one group of people onto other peoples' lands has been the source of ethnic conflict."
Although previous research suggested that atolls and other islands are resilient to rising seas, Albert and his team discovered 11 drowned Solomon Islands, with six experiencing "severe erosion" and five that were completely swallowed by the sea.
"This ultimately calls for support from development partners and international financial mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund," said Melchior Mataki, chair of the Solomon Islands' National Disaster Council. "This support should include nationally driven scientific studies to inform adaptation planning to address the impacts of climate change in Solomon Islands."
However, how the hundreds of billions of dollars promised through financial mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund will be used to support those in remote communities remains to be seen.
The sea level rise has increased significantly at the Solomon Islands over the past 20 years, and although this spike might stabilize, it might be too little, too late.
"The rates we have recently seen in the Solomons will be experienced globally in the second half of this century," Albert said.
The findings were published in the May 6 issue of Environmental Research Letters.
