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DELTARES, FEBRUARI 2016
ATOLLS
DISAPPEARING
FASTER THAN
EXPECTED
Most of the 500,000 people living
on atolls in the Pacific and Indian
Oceans will have to move to the
mainland, not at the end of this
century but within a few decades.
Only the richer atolls can aord
measures to deal with the rising
waters, but even these are not
permanent solutions.
BY JANNEKE IJMKER
Y 2016
Ioane Teitiota could be the first person on earth to
ocially apply for asylum on the grounds of climate
change. He believes that his birthplace, the Kiribati
atoll midway between Hawaii and Australia in the
Pacific Ocean, has become uninhabitable. Floods are
increasingly frequent, the quality of the scarce drinking
water is declining rapidly, and the infant mortality rate
is higher than in Bangladesh. So he decided to flee to
New Zealand.
Ioane is now back on his island but his story on the BBC
has gone the world over, and his questions have struck a
chord. What is going on with Ioane's atoll? What impact
is climate change having? What knowledge do we need to
address the problems? And are there any solutions at all?
PHOTO: THINKSTOCK