Unpredictable changes
By ALUMECI NAKEKE
24 November 2007


People in Fiji need to open their eyes wider to see the effects of climate change taking place right on their doorsteps. Why are the coastline moving up and some trees gone from where it used to stand? Why so we have to move our gravesites, dig up the bones and rebury them?
Shorelines are eroding and passing by the Coral Coast one could see its effects. Coastal erosion is also caused by development in villages, towns and other activities like the harvesting of corals.

It is about time people wake up and be aware of what is going on around us.

Director Environment Epeli Nasome said because of Fiji's land mass, impacts of climate change was lesser than smaller island nations like Tuvalu and Kiribati that are now at risk as their islands start to sink.

He said all island countries should get together as a team and fight together for survival.
Tuvalu Climate Action Network officer Reverend Tafua Lusana who is in Fiji this week said, fish found in certain areas were gone because of currents patterns and trees were blooming earlier or later than the normal season. Traditional knowledge of each season was now unpredictable as the weather because of the changes.

Planting of food was also difficult because now they have to dig deeper into the sand to reach the soil but the sea water goes in the pits so their crops fail. Now they have to rely on cash lifestyle because they cannot plant their food.

Early next month the 13th Conference of the Pacific will take place in Bali, Indonesia, and it is an important meeting because this will be the last chance for the world to agree to take stronger action to prevent dangerous climate change.

Worldwide Fund climate change campaigner Jyotishma Naicker said countries needed to decide what actions they wanted to take in the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol.
"Most importantly that must include new and strong commitments to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. The challenge is for countries to agree on who does what and by how much," she said.

Ms Naicker also said COP 13 was important for the Pacific because our survival was at stake and Pacific Island countries were among those most vulnerable to climate change and their economies were also not strong enough to withstand or quickly recover from extreme events.
Because of the location of this meeting it is like bringing the international community to our doorsteps so it will be an opportunity to have our voices heard loud and clear, she said.
In the latest findings by International Panel on Climate Change it found that mean temperature have risen by 0.6 to 1.0 degrees celsius since 1910 and by the end of the century, temperatures could be as high as 3.11 degrees celsius above the baseline.

So there will be an increase in hot days across the whole Pacific islands region.

Water resources in small islands are more likely to be compromised and the annual rainfall could vary by as much as 10 per cent and extreme rainfall would become more common, leading to soil erosion and flooding.

There has also been evidence of increase in storms, globally and more tropical cyclones in warmer areas.

Sea levels has also risen in the region at an average of 1.6mm annually in the last 50 years but the melting of icecaps could increase more than what predicted.

However, there are also some non-climate causes like poverty, urbanisation, small economy, unemployment, and mismanagement of natural resources which add to the Pacific islands' vulnerability.

Agricultural losses could amount to F$23 - $52million in Fiji by 2050 and it could be caused by changes to the rainfall patterns and the intensity of the tropical cyclones.

Tuna catches could also be reduced because of rising sea levels.
Damages to coral reefs and other coastal systems could affect tourism and related industries.
People's health could be affected by increasing rates of vector-borne diseases like malaria, dengue fever, and filariasis. In Fiji the dengue outbreak in '97 and '98 resulted in 24,000 infections, 13 deaths and a cost of between US$3 – 6million.

There was also a rise in diarrhoea because of water scarcity and there would be more fish poisoning due to warmer sea temperatures.

Because Pacific islands depend on tourism, agriculture and fisheries their economies could also be affected.

So the only solution now is adaptation to climate change because the impacts are too great to ignore and would worsen over the coming years, stated WWF in their document. But it will not stop climate change but rather prevent it from getting worse.

Pacific island nations should also push for stronger international action because without massive cuts to global greenhouse gas emissions climate change will continue to undermine the livelihoods of Pacific islands people. They will need to push for stronger mitigation efforts from the international community so that by 2050 the emissions reductions would be 50 – 85 per cent. We in the Pacific only contribute less than 1.0 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions so the Mali conference must deliver a mandate for governments to start formal negotiations on the new international climate change rules that will replace the current rules soon to be expired in 2012, which was only five years ahead and the end of the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol.