Sinking Pacific island Kiribati considers moving to a man-made alternative

[dipsydoodle]

The future for Kiribati, one of the low-lying Pacific nations threatened by rising seas, is so dire that the government is contemplating relocating the entire population to man-made islands resembling giant oil rigs.

"We're considering everything... because we are running out of options," the President of Kiribati, Anote Tong, said yesterday in Auckland, where he is attending the Pacific Islands Forum. He said that his small, impoverished country – where the highest land is no more than two metres above sea level – urgently needed the world to take action on climate change.

Vulnerable Pacific nations have acquired a powerful new ally, the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, who visited Kiribati on his way to the Auckland conference. In a speech on Tuesday, Mr Ban warned: "For those who believe climate change is about some distant future, I invite them to Kiribati. Climate change is not about tomorrow. It is lapping at our feet – quite literally in Kiribati and elsewhere." Beachside villages in Kiribati – which consists of 33 coral atolls sprinkled across two million square miles of ocean – have already had to move to escape the encroaching waves. Water supplies have been contaminated by salt water, and crops destroyed. Erosion, caused partly by storms and flooding, is increasingly serious.

Mr Tong said he had seen models of a man-made floating island, similar to an offshore oil platform and costing US$2bn (£1.25bn). While it sounded "like something from science fiction", he said radical ideas had to be considered. "If you're faced with the option of being submerged with your family, what would you do?" he asked. "Would you jump on the rig... on a floating island or not? I think the answer is yes."

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/sinking-pacific-island-kiribati-considers-moving-to-a-manmade-alternative-2350964.html

[liberal N proud]

1. Bring on Kevin Costner and Waterworld

[txlibdem]

2. I don't know them, but I know they are equally deserving of life and clean food/water as am I

I agree that all possible alternatives have to be considered.

[Nederland]

3. I would be far cheaper to raise all the buildings on a couple of the islands instead

During the 1850s and 1860s the entire city of Chicago was raised between 4 and 14 feet higher to prevent flooding and improve drainage into Lake Michigan.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-chicagodays-raisingstreets-story,0,4385820.story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_Chicago

[Terry in Austin]

4. They'll have to evict those Libertarians first, though -nt