Climate change swallowed five Solomon Islands, study shows

Rising sea levels and coastal erosion linked to climate change have already swallowed up five of the Pacific’s Solomon Islands, and six others have experienced severe loss of land, the authors of a new study reported in Friday’s edition of the journal Environmental Research Letters.

According to Gizmodo and AFP reports, the Australian team behind the new research explained that the five islands that disappeared were unpopulated, vegetated reef islands that were up to 12 acres (five hectares) large and which were occasionally used by fishermen in the area.

On one of the other affected islands, at least 10 homes had been lost to the encroaching waters since 2011, and in two instances, fishing communities had to be relocated due to the erosion of the shoreline. The authors fear that the “severe shoreline recession” that the islands are currently experiencing could ultimately affect other low-lying atoll throughout the ocean.

“Rates of shoreline recession are substantially higher in areas exposed to high wave energy,” the study said, “indicating a synergistic interaction between sea-level rise and waves. Understanding these local factors that increase the susceptibility of islands to coastal erosion is critical to guide adaptation responses for these remote Pacific communities.”

Findings could help experts plan for, minimize losses elsewhere

As lead author Simon Albert, a senior research fellow at the University of Queensland, told AFP, the Solomon Islands are considered by many experts to be a good litmus test for sea-level rise, as increases there tend to be as much as three times higher than the global average.

Albert and his colleagues reviewed aircraft and satellite images of 33 islands between the years of 1947 and 2014, as well as local historical resources, to examine the erosion rates of the region. They claim that this is the first study of its kind to track natural changes occurring there, instead of relying upon dramatic events, and said that the findings could be useful for future research.

“There’s these global trends that are happening,” Albert told AFP, “but the local responses can be very, very localized.” For instance, in addition to the villages that have already been relocated, the Choiseul Province capital of Taro is about to become “the first provincial capital globally to relocate residents and services due to the threat of sea-level rise,” according to the study.

“This study represents the first assessment of shoreline change from the Solomon Islands, a global sea-level rise hotspot,” the authors added. “The large range of erosion severity on the islands in this study highlights the critical need to understand the complex interplay between the projected accelerating sea-level rise, other changes in global climate such as winds and waves, and local tectonics, to guide future adaptation planning and minimize social impacts.”

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Image credit: Torsten Blackwood

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