Paradise Threatened
A garland of clouds adorns a necklace of islets that make up Abemama atoll, part of Kiribati’s Gilbert Islands. Low-lying atolls like Abemama may look like a postcard paradise, but they face grave threats from rising sea levels.
Pictures: Rising Seas Are Already Damaging These Pacific Islands
It took months for Kiribati to repair battered roads and seawalls after a king tide earlier this year.
TARAWA, Kiribati“Garlands of the gods” is how Kiribati poet Teweiariki Teaero describes the atolls of his homeland. And from the air, that is how they look, with a smoke ring of clouds above lush green slivers of land. How fragile they seem!
Built by the sea, they are increasingly being reclaimed by the sea. In February 2015, high spring tides coincided with storm-generated swells to flood homes and damage roads and seawalls in Kiribati’s capital, Tarawa. (Read more about the threats to the island nation.)
