By Kalinga Seneviratne, NNN
Beppu, Japan : The South Pacific, whose voice is usually muted in regional forums, was quite audible at the First Asia-Pacific Water Summit held in this hot springs resort this week, perhaps by default.
Although 49 countries were invited to send their heads of state and government, only nine turned up and seven of them were from the South Pacific island nations. Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau and Tuvalu were represented at the highest level.
“(Our ground water supply) is impacted by coastal erosion because as the land mass becomes narrower (because of rising sea levels) the ability to retain ground water will be substantially reduced,” Kiribati President Anote Tong said in an interview.
He explained how his country of low-lying islands, nine of them narrow atolls in the Pacific Ocean, almost had to transport water from overseas recently. “If there is no ground water and rain does not fall, there is no water,” he said.
“Most of our water comes from ground water because most of our people don’t have the roofing to catch the rainwater. So they cannot store the rainwater,” he added.
Tong said he had to move house when rising sea water escaped through a wall he had built around his compound.
“Sea water was coming into one of our buildings so I had to move and live a little bit higher,” he said. “Let’s discuss the long-term issues but we have to get into action to address the problems right now.”
The Small Islands Dialogue on Water and Climate was addressed by Tong while Tuvalu Prime Minister Apisai Lelemia and Palau President Tommy Esang Remengesau responded from the audience.
Latu Kupa of the Pacific Water Association, a panelist at the session, complained that very often leaders in the region get together and talk, yet it is said that the countries cannot implement the policies recommended to them because there is no political will.
He asked the people attending the session to stand up and applaud their leaders because for the first time a majority has decided to attend an international meeting to discuss the environmental problem.
He hoped that the leaders will set aside politics in their own countries and implement programmes and strategies that were discussed.
Dr. Kuniyoshi Takeuchi, director of the International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management, said the problem of the Pacific islands is also the problem of the international community.
He also warned against foreign remedies imposed on the island countries. He pointed out that the introduction of septic tanks sometimes makes groundwater very unhealthy to drink in a vulnerable island environment.
In one instance, a Japanese company planting pumpkins in a Pacific island country instead of traditional taro resulted in land use, such as the use of fertilizer and cutting of coconut trees which led to the contamination of river water and the death of coral reefs.
“We cannot stop natural phenomenon but we can prepare to reduce its impact,” said Dr. Salvano Briceno, director of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.
He said that there are solutions to be found in the Pacific and what may be needed is international financial assistance to help implement these.
Sometimes, however, the small islands may be at the mercy of nature or man-made environmental catastrophes where awareness or preparedness may not be a remedy.
Tong explained that recently after the Solomon Islands was hit by a tsunami they were warned that it may reach his country, a far flung chain of 32 low-lying islands, where the highest point is just two metres above sea level and most islands are not more than two kilometres wide.
“I received the warning at 10 o’clock and the tsunami was to hit at 12 o’clock. I had two hours to alert the nation … Quite honestly we’re not prepared for anything like that,” said Tong.
“Nor could we ever be prepared for a tsunami with a country that has an elevation of two metres or less. The tsunami will just wash away the island.
“My solution was that what I would advise the people: ‘Go to church and confess and try to prepare for the next life’. That’s how serious the problem is,” he said.
* (Kalinga Seneviratne is head of research at the Singapore-based Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), which is working with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF) to provide information and update the media on the first Asia Pacific Water Summit).