Tuvalu residents staying put?

From: "Sarah Shima" <info@acic-caci.org>
To: "Sustainable Maritimes \(E-mail\)" <sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca>
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 10:12:25 -0400
Importance: Normal
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Return-Path: <sust-mar-mml-owner@chebucto.ns.ca>

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For the first time since civilization began, se
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Ed: Good point, Sarah ... climate change is dificult enough to understand
without misinformation. Does anyone know which is the real version, and
which the urban legend? Of course, there are plenty good reasons
besides Tuvalu to use non-poluting forms of transport. Thanks ~Paul :)
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It's so difficult to know who to believe.  I have received the information
on Tuvalu prior to the message on SustMar and became very concerned.
Subsequent to the first e-mail, I received the one below.  What is the
reality?

We need to remember to be just as critical of e-mail information as we are
of other media!

Regards,
Sarah

_____________________________________
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (November 16, 2001 -- Agence
France-Presse)---Residents of Tuvalu are not abandoning their
homes next year and may not do so for decades, a Tuvalu
government official said Friday.

The Washington-based Earth Policy Institute had said in a
statement the surrounding Pacific waters have risen to dangerous
levels due to global warming.

"The leaders of Tuvalu have conceded defeat in their battle with
the rising sea, announcing that they will abandon their
homeland," Lester Brown of the Washington-based environmental
group said in a statement.

He added that "New Zealand has agreed to accept all 11,000
citizens of Tuvalu, with migration expected to start in 2002."

New Zealand officials have flatly denied this and a decade long
scientific study has found no evidence of sea-level rise around
Tuvalu.

Tuvalu Deputy Secretary to Government Simeti Lopati told AFP from
Funafuti that it had received many inquiries on whether residents
were leaving, after a story that Australia wanted to shunt Middle
Eastern asylum seekers to the archipelago.

It was regarded as an ironic request because four months earlier
Australia had refused Tuvalu's request to allow more migrants in
from Tuvalu.

The country fears sea level rises will ultimately sink the nine
atolls spread out over some 26 square kilometers (10 square
miles) land area.

"We are not leaving Tuvalu just yet, and no decision has been
taken on that," Lopati said.

"Some people might be exaggerating it a bit."

While Australia has refused to take Tuvaluans, New Zealand is
considering the matter.

A spokesman for Foreign Minister Phil Goff said a previous Tuvalu
prime minister, the late Ionatana Ionatana, last year had
approached New Zealand over population pressure on Tuvalu and the
rising sea level. He asked for a quota of 1,500 people over 10
years.

The spokesman said New Zealand was considering the issue in the
context of other immigration issues.

Several thousand Tuvaluans used to work in the phosphate mines on
Nauru but as that has reached exhaustion, they are returning
home, increasing the population pressure.

Although no part of Tuvalu is more than 4.5 meters (14 feet)
above sea level, there is strong scientific debate on whether it
is sinking or whether the island moves up with the sea level.

Australia's National Tidal Facility at Flinder's University in
Adelaide has over the last decade installed tide gauges across
the Pacific, including one at Tuvalu's capital atoll, Funafuti.

Facility director Wolfgang Scherer says their data from Funafuti
shows no evidence of sea level rise.

"As of June 2001, based on the short-term sea level rise analyses
.. the eight years of data return show a rate of 0.0 mm per
year, i.e. no change in average sea level over the period of
record."

Earlier this year Paani Laupepa of Tuvalu's Ministry of National
Resources said they are expecting to evacuate their people from
the atolls within 50 years.

"Given the situation in which Australia is producing a lot of
pollution into the atmosphere, the Australian Government should
take the necessary steps to accommodate the people who are
suffering from the effects of the pollution," he said.

"If you pollute, you should take responsibility for the actions
that you are causing."

Michael Field
New Zealand/South Pacific Correspondent
Agence France-Presse
E-mail: afp.nz@clear.net.nz
Phone: (64 21) 688438
Fax: (64 21) 694035
Website: http://www.afp.com/english/
Website: http://www.michaelfield.org


SOURCE: Pacific Islands Report




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