Off the southern coast of Fiji lies the tiny island of Serua with a small but proud community of farmers and fishers. Around the year 2000, locals noticed the sea level rising around their island at an alarming pace. Despite taking measures to strengthen the island’s shore through constructing sea barriers, the people continued to find their home inundated with water. On at least two occasions, the island was subjected to such massive flooding that one could take a boat across the entire island without hitting ground.
The Government of Fiji has since asked the islanders to relocate, and indeed nearly half of the inhabitants have left since 2005. The 150 people who remain are not keen to leave, as many of them see abandoning their home as a loss of identity.
The adverse effects of climate change will quite possibly soon make Serua completely uninhabitable. Sadly, this story is not unique, particularly in the Pacific, where most nations are made up of small islands that are perhaps more vulnerable than anywhere else on earth to sea level rise.
In August 2023, hundreds of government officials, advocates, and journalists from around the world convened in Fiji to take decisive action about climate change in the Pacific.
Watch the short film, A Climate Resilient Pacific, to hear some of their stories.
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