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Hawaii and Deltares is focusing on the development of a
checklist to identify the most vulnerable and threatened
atolls. That information can be used to decide where the
need is greatest.
Concrete seawall
But it is still unclear whether anything will actually be
done with the information. The low-lying atolls rise
up steeply and so they are difficult to protect using
dikes or sand nourishment: the large amounts of sand
that the Netherlands has in the near offshore are not
available here. Some rich atolls can build homes on
stilts. In some locations, people are building concrete
seawalls that actually result in the erosion of the
coastline elsewhere. Drinking water can be obtained
with a desalination plant.
Desperate poverty
More than 500,000 people live scattered across atolls
in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and most of them
are desperately poor. But they have no choice: they
must stop the destruction of the coral for housing and
fishing, and stop discharging untreated sewage. Even
then, these islands will probably become uninhabitable
within a few decades. Animal species are endangered,
habitats are disappearing and people will be forced to
move out. Centuries of island culture will be lost. We do
not know whether we can stop that process.
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES