That Sinking feeling - PNG

March 2007
The Carterets in the Pacific will be the first islands in the world to disappear because of global warming. Sea levels are rising at a phenomenal rate and sea walls, have vanished under the tide.

"The island's sinking", laments one woman. "We see it with our own eyes". It's estimated that by 2015, the Carteret Islands will disappear under the sea. Already, the beaches are littered with fallen trees, their roots eroded by the tide. Rising sea levels have made it impossible for the islanders to grow anything apart from coconuts. They are now dependent on aid from PNG. "Our houses are getting closer and closer to the sea", complains one woman. "Maybe one day, a tidal wave will sweep everyone away". The government plans to relocate people but many islanders refuse to move. As one states; "If the island is lost, I'm lost too".

Produced by ABC Australia
Distributed by Journeyman Pictures

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• apua
• new
• guinea
• PNG
• sinking
• feeling
• carterets
• pacific
• islands
• disappeared
• global
• warming
• effects
• news
• documentary
• current affairs
• journeyman
• journeyman pictures

[Melanesiangiirl]

This is exactly what is happening on my Island home (trobriand Islands).. :(

[a05bf5ff]

paradise lost

[jafrocubic2]

Wow. That was almost too much. So heartbreaking. It's one thing to say goodbye to your home, but know you might one day see it again, or that it will at the very least still be there for others to enjoy. But to watch as it slowly disappears... To be there swimming in that sunset, knowing that it's all coming to an end - I can't imagine something so painful.

[SchizoCarpetBeater]

people without internet of TV know more aboot the problems inflicting ur planet than some people who r causing it

[Uchihaheyhi]

Mortlock Atolls <3

[waniati]

ok, youve been there 600 years , the i kiribati 5,000 and the fijians 7,000 years , ok , the pyramids were just being built when the kiribati area was settled . There is no record of whether or not the islands were in fact submerged (though rock paintings in Kakadu show an inlet where Jabiru township is now dated 10,000 years ago..Greenhoax effect , tooth fairy, santa clause ...

[spencermel]

@Melanesiangiirl not necessarily.

[spencermel]

@a05bf5ff not necessarily my friend.

[spencermel]

There is a way to fix this you know.There is already foundation there(the island itself)There are those suction machines that the military use to pump water and sand in huge piles on the beaches and then compact the sections with dozers and keep repeating the process,going further and further out.And they do it in levels.After a while it will build up as high as you want and it will be solid.Just takes time.If people could get some used pumps mabey from one of those ships that uncover shipwrecks

[cyasares]

@ @ "TehNubinz" "3) Humans have little to no effect on this "Global Warming". Global warming is a part of nature."

Could it be we all have to pay the price for the ignorance of those who know everything? What can you tell me of that plant that grows on that island without any epiphytes or insect predation? Given your scientific powers can you tell me the structure of its molecules and how we are going to use it to treat cancer?

@ "TehNubinz"

[matthiashaenni]

john haenni is a musician who makes also PNG music... watch my vid ;-)