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Mahesh

29/06/24 05:34 AM IST

Climate change forces Panama islanders to relocate

In News
  • Recently,around 300 families were relocated off the island of Gardi Sugdub in Panama’s Guna Yala province due to concerns over rising sea levels.
Gardi Sugdub
  • Panama is situated in the Caribbean, where sea level rise currently averages around 3 to 4 millimetres per year.
  • With soaring global temperatures, it is expected to hit 1 centimetre per year or more by the end of 2100.
  • Due to this, every year, particularly during November and December, houses and streets in Gardi Sugdub are flooded by seawater.
  • Despite the islanders’ efforts to fortify the island’s periphery with rocks, coral, and such, the advancing sea continues its encroachment, rendering the island increasingly unsuitable for living.
  • In response to this crisis, the Panamanian government initiated the construction of 300 new houses on the mainland.
Other Island nations affected by Sea level rise
  • Many of the small island developing states (SIDS) — located in the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea — are facing existential threats due to rising oceans.
  • Small islands are particularly vulnerable to these changes due to their low elevation and high dependency on marine resources, according to a 2022 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — a UN body, which prepares several kinds of reports assessing the state of knowledge of climate change.
  • SIDS such as Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, and Kiribati are experiencing some of the most dramatic effects of rising sea levels.
  • These islands, along with losing their land, are also facing existential threats to their culture and economies.
  • Such rising levels, combined with storm surges and ‘king tides’ (the highest high tide of the year at a coastal location), are causing coastal erosion, salinisation of freshwater resources, and increased vulnerability to extreme weather events.
  • As the impacts of sea level rise intensify, the plight of small islands like Gardi Sugdub in Panama illustrates the increasing human cost of such climate crises.
  • The loss of island homes is not just an environmental issue but a cultural one as well.
  • The Guna people are known for their vibrant molas—intricately sewn textiles that represent both artistic expression and cultural identity.
  • The relocation threatens these traditions as the Guna adapt to a new environment that may not sustain their traditional practices.
  • The cultural disruption faced by the Guna is a microcosm of what many small island communities around the world are experiencing
  • The relocation threatens these traditions as the Guna adapt to a new environment that may not sustain their traditional practices.
  • The cultural disruption faced by the Guna is a microcosm of what many small island communities around the world are experiencing.
Global sea level rise
  • Since 1880, the global sea level has ascended by approximately 21–24 centimetres, with the rate of increase accelerating in recent decades.
  • These rising levels are mainly because of global warming, with vulnerable coastal regions and countries of the Global South being the worst affected.
  • Today, the global average temperature has increased by at least 1.1 degree Celsius since 1880.
Source- Indian Express

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