UN Report On Tuvalu; More Extreme Weather, Flooding & Soil Salination Killing Crops; Rainfall Short

[hatrack]

EDIT

Beyond such anecdotes, a recent report (PDF) from Tuvalu’s government adaptation project and the United Nations Development Program ticked off the following climate-change concerns:

Extreme weather has become far more frequent and more intense in Tuvalu, with ocean surges from cyclones causing flash flooding that wipes away or severely damages homes, leaving people without shelter for long periods.

The traditional diet in Tuvalu is based on fish, coconuts and starchy vegetables like breadfruit, pulaka and taro. Fisheries have been depleted in recent years by an increase in water temperatures; erosion has caused the loss of tracts of livable and arable land along the shore, devastating crops and livelihoods.

The soil farther inland has suffered, too, with crop failures attributed to increases in flooding and higher salinity in the groundwater. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has financed an effort to introduce salt-resistant banana plants to the islands, and another involving salt-resistant taro root is in the works.

Most residents rely mostly on rainwater for drinking and bathing, with catchments on their dwellings funneling the water into storage tanks. During droughts, families can normally collect water from community cisterns or desalinated water that is available to buy from the Public Works Department. But rain this year and last has been so sparse that people are on the verge of running out altogether. (This month New Zealand and Australia shipped emergency desalination plants to Tuvalu to treat seawater, but strict rationing and a state of emergency continue.)

EDIT

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/as-danger-laps-at-its-shores-tuvalu-pleads-for-action/