by Kim Lockrow, Global Greengrants Fund Intern
For the people of Tuvalu, the threat of global climate change is already being felt as sea levels rise and storms gain in intensity, increasing coastal erosion and contaminating groundwater with salt. Some predict that the atoll, less than 15 feet at its highest point, could be unlivable in fifty years.
Global Greengrants has funded two projects that are beginning to address the local effects of global warming. The first is an adopt-a-tree program designed to create protective bands of trees along windward coasts. Excessive clearing of coastal trees for fuel wood has compounded erosion problems for Tuvalu, but an initial planting of 1,500 trees will help stabilize the coastline and provide a windbreak and seawall to support further plantings in the coming years. Already, 850 salt-tolerant trees have been planted by project leaders and volunteers. As these trees mature, their thick roots will form a band that can help protect inland groundwater resources as well.
This project has relevance for other coastal communities around the world. After decades of accelerated development and loss of coastal forests to wood collection, coastal communities are finding themselves increasingly vulnerable to storms. In the coming years, rising sea levels and changes in ocean characteristics will greatly exacerbate the problem. Programs that engage local communities in the restoration of coastal forests will help give them a further stake – and expertise – in coastal forest protection. Coastal forests, such as mangroves, provide rich nursery habitat for local fisheries and their protection can improve economic conditions in the many places where habitat loss has reduced fish stocks.
A second program, AWARE, is bringing greater environmental awareness to students in Funafuti, Tuvalu’s capital. Project leaders hope to engage students and parents in hands-on activities to preserve and improve sensitive island ecosystems such as coastal trees and the reef systems that will play an increasingly important role in protecting the island during the coming years. The program brings biologists and other environmental professionals to the classroom, and it sponsors field trips to vulnerable island ecosystems. The program has met with an outpouring of support from the community, and it is building public commitment to protect critically important reef systems and trees.
AWARE and Adopt-a-Tree are playing a vital role in encouraging a community response to environmental degradation and the threat of global warming. The government of Tuvalu has become an outspoken critic of the slow international response to climate change. It made headlines in 2002 when it threatened legal action against the United States and Australia for failing to back the Kyoto Protocol.
Tuvalu is among the very first countries to feel the effects of climate change, and these projects are an opportunity to help local people design responses that can serve as templates to people on other vulnerable coasts. By taking tangible steps toward fortifying coasts, and by encouraging greater citizen engagement on the environment, these projects are helping to prepare Tuvaluans for the struggle ahead. The people of Tuvalu have powerful moral authority to speak in favor of Kyoto and other measures, and by supporting their ability to speak in a unified voice, we may be able to help them encourage more aggressive international action on the threat of climate change.