![]() But they don’t see it that way.” ‘Nowhere else to go’ “Our generation will feel the full brunt of climate change and are already seeing it with our corals dying, villages going under and so we are pushing to continue efforts to protect these resources for future. “The older generation won’t be around to feel the worsening effects of climate change, yet they are the ones putting a halt to our plans, just to argue over whose land it is,” says Elijah Yapuri from Banumo village and a member of the association. However, their plans were abruptly halted by local village elders.Įlijah Yapuri, coordinator of the Kikiri Local Marine Management Area, says older generations should stop fighting over whom the land belongs to. The association began planting mangroves around the island to protect the surrounding wetlands and ecosystems, with future plans to turn the island into an ecotourism attraction. The dispute over the new island has also disrupted plans by local marine association Kikiri Local Marine Management Area (KLMMA), formed by youth from the area, to protect and sustainably manage marine resources in the area. “It may have been a reef system that was eventually engulfed by the delta’s continuous sedimentation,” he said. Schneider Yasi, a private geologist for Kingston Resources who has reviewed maps of the area, thinks the island is likely to have been formed by sediment deposits. But while these villages were destroyed, this island started forming.” Coastal villages from Binjefada to Garara were destroyed. “We especially noticed a drastic change after Cyclone Guba devastated Oro in 2007. ![]() ![]() We noticed the coral started dying and the fish population decreased,” says Seboda. “Since the late 80s, when the oil palm factory commenced production, we have seen pollution in our ocean that came down from the Bangoho River. However, the community believes the island formed as wind and waves repeatedly deposited sediment – potentially pollution from a local palm oil factory – parallel to the shoreline, similar to the formation of a barrier island.Ī fisherman holds the black sand for which Kikiri beach is famous. Locals say that the government and environmental experts have not visited the area to investigate. The formation of the island is yet to be studied. It’s a strange phenomenon, in which, while other parts of the Pacific, they are losing land to rising sea waters – we are instead gaining land.” ‘Our generation will feel the full brunt of climate change’ “But, in recent years, the island was formed, vegetation started growing there and people feel entitled to the land but we have to determine who, if anyone, it belongs to. “And so, when warring tribes fought over land, this land wasn’t there to be fought over. “If you look at old maps, the land didn’t exist back then,” says deputy provincial administrator Joe Mokada. Photograph: Godfreeman Kaptigauīut the Garara people who now live along the coastline have also laid claim to the island. A mother and her children, residents of a village that is slowly being submerged by rising tides.
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