Meet the First South Pacific Island of Taro in Solomon Islands - TopicsExpress



          

Meet the First South Pacific Island of Taro in Solomon Islands archipelago to Relocate, Gratis from Climate Change, Rising Sea levels. (this is the reality now for many smaller islands nations worldwide, not some futuristic musings...) A small town on Taro Island — the capital of Choiseul Province in the Solomon Islands — is planning to relocate its entire population in response to climate change, Reuters reports. It’s the first time that a provincial capital in the Pacific Islands will have done so. The islands that make up Choiseul Province and the rest of the Solomon Islands sit east of Papua New Guinea in the Solomon Sea, and northeast of Australia. Taro Island itself is only 6.6 feet above sea level, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects global sea level rise of one to three feet by the end of this century. But that’s likely a low ball estimate. Compounding factors like a speed-up in the melt of Greenland’s glaciers and the effectively irreversible collapse of the West Antarctic glacier could drive it considerably higher. Rising seas will in turn bring ever-higher risks of storm surges, tsunamis, and floods to the community, which ranges from 500 to 1,000 people according to various reports. So in consultation with a team of engineers, scientists, and planners, Taro Island decided to build an entirely new town on a higher and larger nearby island, to which the population will be moved in stages. Money to purchase the land for the new project was provided by a $3 million grant from the Solomon Islands government in 2008. Philip Haines, project manager for BMT WBM, an international consultancy that worked on the strategy, told Reuters that the new settlement will be able to handle 5,000 inhabitants when complete. Essential infrastructure like a hospital and a secondary school will likely be built within the next five years. And eventually all services, facilities, government buildings, roads, and even a hydropower system will have to be constructed anew as well. The process is anticipated to take several decades to complete. thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/08/18/3472645/pacific-island-town-relocate-climate-change/?elq=%7E%7Eeloqua..type--emailfield..syntax--recipientid%7E%7E&elqCampaignId=%7E%7Eeloqua..type--campaign..campaignid--0..fieldname--id%7E%7E
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 20:48:52 +0000

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