Tiny nation's big problem sinks to bottom of agenda
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<< OLE Object: Picture (Metafile) >> By CAMPBELL CLARK
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Wednesday, March 6, 2002 - Print Edition, Page A1
COOLUM, AUSTRALIA -- When Koloa Talake arrived at this week's
Commonwealth summit in Australia, he had a sinking feeling that no one
would care about the plight of his tiny nation of Tuvalu -- home to
10,000 people and an ocean of a problem.
While other leaders worked themselves into a sweat over the
democratic fate of Zimbabwe, the gentlemanly, silver-haired Mr. Talake
was unable to get anyone to take up the issue that Tuvalu is slipping
under the Pacific.
Tuvalu is nine narrow atolls with fewer than 70 square
kilometres of land, more than 1,000 kilometres north of Fiji. Sea levels
are rising, and during this week's yearly high tides, areas that did not
flood a decade ago were knee-deep in water.
"Eventually, in the next 50 or so years, the islands will
disappear. They will be all covered by water," Mr. Talake said in an
interview.
"And the people there will also disappear, along with their
land."
During the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting,
Tuvalu and several other members from the region, including Kiribati and
Samoa, had pressed leaders of the 54-country group to act against global
warming and rising sea levels.
Yet few responded.
"The environment was not afforded enough time. It affects the
life of so many countries -- whereas the case of Zimbabwe is a political
case only, created by one single soul. The importance is not the same,"
Mr. Talake said.
Dressed in a crisp tropical shirt, he smiled brightly and spoke
with quiet incredulity rather than anger. But his point was clear: "We
would like the Commonwealth to give recognition to rising sea levels
just like the attention they have given to terrorism. Because its
consequences are the same."
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, speaking at the end of the
Commonwealth meeting yesterday, expressed sympathy for Tuvalu and its
neighbours.
"If you had been present at the meeting and heard the little
states who are afraid of disappearing because the water levels are
rising in their provinces -- you know, you have to think of the
consequences," Mr. Chrétien said.
But he acknowledged that Canada had given no new commitment to
ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on limiting greenhouse-gas emissions, and
that Canada must receive credits for the export of natural gas and
hydro-electric power before any action is taken on the accord.
Mr. Talake and the leaders of other low-lying Pacific island
states are concerned that larger countries, such as Canada, are
succumbing to a domino effect since U.S. President George W. Bush
announced he will not ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
Several Pacific Island countries have already seen some of their
islands submerged during the high tides.
On Tuvalu, which consists of unspoiled islands where subsistence
fishing and farming are the way of life, and the sale of coins and
stamps is the chief source of revenue, the threat of rising sea levels
is no longer theoretical.
If nothing happens, the people of Tuvalu will be forced to
migrate, but it will not be easy because their culture and lifestyle are
so linked to the islands, he said.
"Those are the consequences. The culture will disappear, and the
island will be under water."
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