Five vegetated reef islands in the Pacifics Solomon Islands have disappeared because of coastal erosion and sea level rise, according to a study published in Environmental Research Letters that confirmed numerous anecdotal accounts of extreme shoreline changes. Many homes are close to sea level on the Solomons. Many homes are close to sea level on the Solomons. At least six more islands are also experiencing severe erosion. The islands ranged from one to five hectares, supported dense tropical vegetation and two islands were home to fishing communities that had to be relocated. Low-lying reef islands in the Solomon Islands provide a valuable window into the future impacts of global sea-level rise. Sea-level rise has been predicted to cause widespread erosion and inundation of low-lying atolls in the central Pacific. However, the limited research on reef islands in the western Pacific indicates the majority of shoreline changes and inundation to date result from extreme events, seawalls and inappropriate development rather than sea-level rise alone. Here, we present the first analysis of coastal dynamics from a sea-level rise hotspot in the Solomon Islands. Using time series aerial and satellite imagery from 1947 to 2014 of 33 islands, along with historical insight from local knowledge, we have identified five vegetated reef islands that have vanished over this time period and a further six islands experiencing severe shoreline recession. Shoreline recession at two sites has destroyed villages that have existed since at least 1935, leading to community relocations. Rates of shoreline recession are substantially higher in areas exposed to high wave energy, indicating a synergistic interaction between sea-level rise and waves. Understanding these local factors that increase the susceptibility of islands to coastal erosion is critical to guide adaptation responses for these remote Pacific communities. Coastal erosion in the Solomon Islands over recent decades is causing unprecedented threats to the biota on these fragile islands and the subsistence communities who inhabit them. The isolation from predators that these offshore islands provide makes them critical nesting habitats for many endangered sea turtles and birds. The south Pacific's largest rookery of Hawksbill turtles on the nearby Arnavon islands has been threatened in recent years due to substantial beach recession (Poloczanska et al 2009). In addition to ecological impacts, over the past two decades, many coastal communities have become increasingly vulnerable to receding shorelines and inundation from extreme water levels (Hoeke et al 2013). Inundation severity and frequency has become unacceptable for several communities and relocation has occurred on an ad hoc basis. In Nuatambu village on northern Choiseul over 50% of houses have been washed into the ocean as a result of dramatic shoreline recession. Residents of Nuatambu described the shoreline recession as incremental over several years, rather than related to a specific storm or wave event as experienced elsewhere in the region (Hoeke et al 2013). Many families have relocated to the adjacent high volcanic island of Choiseul; however some economically disadvantaged families have re-built temporary housing in increasingly vulnerable areas of Nuatambu. The relocation to the adjacent high island has not been conducted in a systematic way to ensure this small insular community remains intact; instead families have moved to areas of land they have customary tenure claims over. In the case of Nuatambu, families have spread out over five separate areas in small hamlets. In Mararo village on eastern Malaita relocation as a result of coastal erosion has been more orderly with the entire community making the decision to relocate from the coast to a high elevation site 20 m above sea level. Interestingly in this case the community had historically lived in a high elevation site prior to being encouraged by missionaries down to the coast in the early 20th century. In addition to these village relocations, Taro, the capital of Choiseul Province is set to become the first provincial capital globally to relocate residents and services due to the threat of sea-level rise. Coastal erosion in the Solomon Islands over recent decades is causing unprecedented threats to the biota on these fragile islands and the subsistence communities who inhabit them. The isolation from predators that these offshore islands provide makes them critical nesting habitats for many endangered sea turtles and birds. The south Pacific's largest rookery of Hawksbill turtles on the nearby Arnavon islands has been threatened in recent years due to substantial beach recession (Poloczanska et al 2009). In addition to ecological impacts, over the past two decades, many coastal communities have become increasingly vulnerable to receding shorelines and inundation from extreme water levels (Hoeke et al 2013). Inundation severity and frequency has become unacceptable for several communities and relocation has occurred on an ad hoc basis. In Nuatambu village on northern Choiseul over 50% of houses have been washed into the ocean as a result of dramatic shoreline recession. Residents of Nuatambu described the shoreline recession as incremental over several years, rather than related to a specific storm or wave event as experienced elsewhere in the region (Hoeke et al 2013). Many families have relocated to the adjacent high volcanic island of Choiseul; however some economically disadvantaged families have re-built temporary housing in increasingly vulnerable areas of Nuatambu. The relocation to the adjacent high island has not been conducted in a systematic way to ensure this small insular community remains intact; instead families have moved to areas of land they have customary tenure claims over. In the case of Nuatambu, families have spread out over five separate areas in small hamlets. In Mararo village on eastern Malaita relocation as a result of coastal erosion has been more orderly with the entire community making the decision to relocate from the coast to a high elevation site 20 m above sea level. Interestingly in this case the community had historically lived in a high elevation site prior to being encouraged by missionaries down to the coast in the early 20th century. In addition to these village relocations, Taro, the capital of Choiseul Province is set to become the first provincial capital globally to relocate residents and services due to the threat of sea-level rise.Conclusion This study represents the first assessment of shoreline change from the Solomon Islands, a global sea-level rise hotspot. We have documented five vegetated reef islands (15 ha in size) that have recently vanished and a further six islands experiencing severe shoreline recession. Shoreline recession at two sites has destroyed villages that have existed since at least 1935, leading to community relocations. The large range of erosion severity on the islands in this study highlights the critical need to understand the complex interplay between the projected accelerating sea-level rise, other changes in global climate such as winds and waves, and local tectonics, to guide future adaptation planning and minimise social impacts.
=== On an island, a place of edges, the ocean provides a counter-narrative, nonlinear in what it reveals; "time's arrow" is modified by the rhythmic cycle of the sea as it encounters, and ever transforms, the shore. Historical, archaeological, or even narrative knowledge is challenged by its meeting with the sea that offers up its own kind of knowing. We need to stretch, even confound, our usual frames to take account of such knowledge. special daily yasawa islands mp4s (small short films) now available for free download http://www.eskimo.com/~bbrace/undisclosed.html http://archive.org/details/globalislandsproject (remote Fiji WAYA/YASAWAS islands:) Island 8.0 is now available online! ==================================== http://bbrace.net/islands/island8/island8.html http://bradbrace.net/islands/island8/island8.html Global Islands Project -- ongoing series of multi-media pdf-ebooks/field-recordings -- a pastoral, pictorial and phonic elicitation of island parameters. An intensive examination of small islands and their paradigmatic solutions to globalism... Ethnographically a shared world of historical experience -- not the romanticized and divided universe of them and us. Your feudal-world is based on mutual relief at your common corruption. Maybe some cultures are based on even worse. But that wouldn't change the bad faith of it and as years go by, you wake at night in terror of your whole life being an act of shattered faith, where everything is self-interest and nothing more, where every human interaction is driven by a silent, even subconscious calculation of some ulterior motive, to the point that a sea of bad faith has taken over your whole life, there's no small island left from which you can even try to build a bridge of good faith, because even that effort becomes suspect, even good faith is nothing but self-interested, even altruism is nothing but solipsistic, even your professed agonizing right here right now is nothing but a gesture, made to the conscience in order to assure it that it exists. Deglobalisation is not a synonym for withdrawing from the world economy. It means a process of restructuring the world economic and political system so that the latter builds the capacity of local and national economies instead of degrading it. Deglobalisation means the transformation of a global economy from one integrated around the needs of transnational corporations to one integrated around the needs of peoples, nations, and communities. We cannot talk about construction without deconstruction, reintegration without disintegration. The world (universe) is mostly filled with the black hole (or the vast and deep sea ) of the forgotten. Compared with this, the world of memory is only a small island in the vast "sea of oblivion." http://bradbrace.net/id.html http://bbrace.net/id.html Island 1.0 is Ambergris Caye, Belize Island 2.0 is Koh Si Chang, Thailand Island 3.0 is Lamu, Kenya Island 4.0 is Narikel Jingira, Bangladesh Island 5.0 is Isla Mais, Nicaragua Island 6.0 are The Grenadines, West Indies Island 7.0 is Hateruma (Yaeyama), Japan Island 8.0 is Waya (Yasawa), Fiji Global Islands Project: Island 8.0 -> http://bbrace.net/islands/island8/island8.html or http://bradbrace.net/islands/island8/island8.html -- over 1500 images and hour-long audiotrack -- 750mb -- (acrobat 6) *** http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_1.0 http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_2.0 http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_3.0 http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_4.0 http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_5.0 http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_6.0 http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_7.0 http://www.archive.org/details/global_islands_project_island_8.0 *** Global Islands Project -- ongoing series of multi-media pdf-books -- a pastoral, pictorial and phonic elicitation of island parameters... A traveller, who has lost their way, should not ask, 'Where am I?' What s/he really wants to know is, 'Where are the other places?' Ni sa yali ga na noda itovo, sa oti sara ga o keda. (When we lose our culture, we are nothing.) Vientos del pueblo me llevan Vientos del pueblo me arrastran Me eparcen mi corazon Ye me aventan la garganta http://www.bbrace.net/id.html http://bradbrace.net/id.html bbs: brad brace sound http://69.64.229.114:8000 http://www.bbrace.net/undisclosed.html Waters Colours: http://bradbrace.net/webgallerywc/wc.html Eroticized Japanese/Malaysian Snack Foods: http://bradbrace.net/greenscreen.html Additional GIP texts/blog: http://bbrace.net/wordpress/ http://bradbrace.net/wordpress/ 12 mailing list: You cannot politically defy the institutions when all you really wanted was to be clasped to their bosoms and hope in time to be cherished under the very framework of oppressive values you are thinking of overcoming. That would be co-optation, revolution only in the sense of a circulation of elites rather than the extirpation of the very impulses of elitism. To subscribe to 12-list, simply send a message with the word "subscribe" in the Subject: field to 12-list-requ...@eskimo.com /:b _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
