Kiribati

Our daughter Helen has a friend visiting from Kiribati a very small nation in the Pacific Ocean. Maria is working in Kiribus, as the locals call it, on an AusAID program to skill-up local people for the inevitable exodus of the inhabitants to either Australia and or New Zealand. The program is called the Technical and Vocational Training Sector Strengthening Project. At present there is no industry there. People grow coconuts and fish the ocean merely for local consumption and the population will need broader skills once they move south. They will also need to cope with a vastly different climate.
Maria

The main island of Kiribus is around 30 kilometres long and from 100 - 300 metres wide. It is situated north of Fiji and on the equator.

It isn’t sinking and the ocean isn’t significantly rising. The main concern is that the water wells are becoming salty and Kiribus is in a long drought and so, no rainfall. The ‘exodus’ when it eventually takes place is termed ‘Migration with Dignity’.

Maria has been in Kiribati for 18 months and is returning today flying through Brisbane and Nauru. She will be there for another 12 months.

More on Kiribati here.