The president of the island nation of Kiribati, Anote Tong, has expressed his very deep concern about the future of Kiribati islands in various international conferences around the world.
Kiribati’s safety stability is in endanger due to sea level dramatic rising which have caused severe damage to the island. The option of looking to relocate Kiribati people onto other islands neighbour is on the list of the future expected movement but that will never happen until running out of options.
The recent purchase of 2428 hectares in Vanua Levu, Fiji, is not for relocation process but to use for food repertoire. The land is almost the same as the size of Kiribati capital, Tarawa which consists of a number of islets connected through a serious of causeways, locating the Tarawa archipelago.
Mr Tong told Fiji Times “”We are not picking them up and relocating them. We are training them and they have a choice if they want to move.”
He said, they would do everything they could do to ensure that they will not lose their nation to the rising sea level.
“We have accepted that we can’t keep everyone in Kiribati, some will have to relocate. Relocating the whole country is our last option. We will try and rebuild some of our islands, but we can’t do that for all. Nobody is going to give us the money to build up all our islands,” he said. “We are importing a lot of our food crops because our food crops are affected.
Kiribati President Anote Tong’s photo by TVNZ
