The increasing sea level rise has destroyed or taken away parts of the coastal land where my extended family is staying. With a family of only one brother, it is very difficult to try and protect the coastal line from the sea waves. During neap tides, which occur three days in a row every month, my brother has to stay up all night fighting against the waves and try to stack together boulders to protect the house from eroding away. This is also happening to all our neighbors, as the government could not afford to protect the coastal lands where people live.
In 1997 a big wave from the ocean found its way onto the inland and flooded the area where I had built my house. I built it there, thinking that I was safe if I lived inland.
The seawater stayed on the land for more than four weeks. The coconut, breadfruit and fig trees - the main stable crop foods - were all dead. The ground wells were filled up with seawater and we could not consume the water for drinking. We had to get water from the main water pipe, which costs us more money and is unreliable.
I am lucky though to have my maternal family in Fiji where the islands are much higher. However without proper jobs, one would not survive in a foreign country. In my heart, I know that I still want to live in Kiribati. But I may not be able to, because of the likelihood of my island disappearing under water as a result of global warming.
I would like to urge the Bush administration to change its policy against global warming as its impacts are imminent and affecting the simple livelihood of the Kiribati people.
Photo: A family living next to the sea, on the South Pacific island of Kiribati, re-enforce their property with a sea wall made of sand bags to stop the king tides from eroding their land.