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Saving Island Nations

Small island developing states (SIDs) face significant future hardships as sea levels rise if the effects of climate change are not slowed within the near future. These effects are so severe that several of these island nations may be submerged by the end of the century, wiping them off the map. Swift climate action is critical to save these SIDs and their inhabitants, and the clock is ticking. A small island developing state is a geographically remote and often low-lying island that is both small in size and population. They are found all over the globe and represent communities that are often comprised of various geographical and socio-economic contexts. These small nations are known to contribute the least to climate change, yet they will arguably face the worst human consequences if no action is taken to prevent conditions from worsening (UN, 2021).


Some examples of SIDs that you may have heard of are Haiti, Cuba, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, the Maldives, and many more. SIDs have a population of approximately 65 million residents as a whole, and they represent a little under 1% of the world’s population (Mead, 2021). This is spread across several indigenous communities and developing island states in different demographic proportions. For example, Tuvalu, a Pacific island in Oceania, takes up 26 square kilometers of land whereas Papua New Guinea has more than 460,000 square kilometers in land area. On the other hand, the island of Nuie has only 1,600 inhabitants while Cuba houses around 11 million people (Mead, 2021). Now that’s quite a broad range for around fifty islands that are considered SIDs. 

The Case for SIDs

2011-2014

University Name

Small Island

One-third of the world’s recognized SIDs sit less than five meters above sea level, which leaves many of these sinking communities highly vulnerable to environmental disasters such as rising sea levels, hurricanes, and cyclones, which are occurring at increasing rates and intensities as the effects of climate change worsen (Mead, 2021). The ice caps are melting as greenhouse gases and CO2 become trapped in the atmosphere, which causes sea levels to gradually rise. This is dangerous because the continuous loss of land can result in loss of land that people call home, economic chaos, and even death from severe weather. 

The tricky part of helping these islands fund the costs needed to build the necessary sustainable infrastructure they need in order to protect their communities from being eradicated. SIDs are most often dependent on food and fossil fuel imports to sustain their communities’ livelihoods. With several of these SIDs having relatively small surface areas where much of the land is not suitable for agriculture, food imports are a must. In fact, a reported 50% SIDs import more than 80% of their food (Mead). Along with these costs, petroleum and other fossil fuel imports ensure they have sufficient electricity generation to accommodate transportation and other energy needs (Mead). This causes these islands to collect high energy costs, frequent supply interruptions, and vulnerability to oil price fluctuations. Tourism is often one of the main sources of revenue for these small islands, but this causes their economies to lack diversity which makes it much more difficult for the community to show resilience following economic shocks or recessions.

Rocky Island
Tropical Retreat

If we do not do our part to help combat the effects of climate change, several communities and populations of entire island nations will be displaced and forced to migrate. This urgent surge in climate refugees could cause geopolitical tensions. To keep these responses at bay, a goal was set within the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement where nations should aim to collectively keep rising temperatures to the current 1.5 degrees Celsius rise instead of allowing it to reach 2 degrees Celsius (Smith, 2021). This may sound like a minuscule difference, but saving 0.5 degrees of warming will avoid sea levels from rising 9.6 feet in the long run (Smith, 2021). Additionally, the development of domestic renewable energy markets would be an efficient way for these SIDs to expand their economic resilience while simultaneously combating climate change through increased energy efficiency (Mead, 2021). This would allow them to face less risks for high debt costs which are preventing them from being able to effectively build and utilize infrastructure that could raise them up from their low-lying terrain. 

In conclusion, island nations are facing extreme threats, and often aren’t given the voices they deserve due to their remoteness and scale as opposed to other prosperous states. It is not fair for these nations to face the brunt of the climate crisis when they are hardly responsible for any of it. Without these conservation strategies, several of the SIDs mentioned above would be submerged. Will you help to do your part to protect the land and sea to keep these islands thriving?

References

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