Tuvalu About To Disappear Into The Ocean

[RestoreGore]

http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/23020

Published September 13, 2007 08:45 AM
Tuvalu about to disappear into the ocean

SEOUL (Reuters) - The tiny Pacific island state of Tuvalu on Thursday urged the rest of the world to do more to combat global warming before it sinks beneath the ocean.

The group of atolls and reefs, home to some 10,000 people, is barely two meters on average above sea-level and one study predicted at the current rate the ocean is rising could disappear in the next 30 to 50 years.

"We keep thinking that the time will never come. The alternative is to turn ourselves into fish and live under water," Tuvalu Deputy Prime Tavau Teii told Reuters in the South Korean capital where he was attending a conference on the environment.

"All countries must make an effort to reduce their emissions before it is too late for countries like Tuvalu," he said, calling the country one of the most vulnerable in the world to man-made climate change.

snip

"We'll try and maintain our own way of living on the island as long as we can. If the time comes we should leave the islands, there is no other choice but to leave."

Teii said his government had received indications from New Zealand it was prepared to take in people from the islands. About 2,000 of its population already live there.

But Australia, the other major economy in the region, had only given vague commitments.

"Australia was very reluctant to make a commitment even though they have been approached in a diplomatic way."
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This leads me to a question: In the future it is now for sure that we will see thousands perhaps millions of environmental refugees pushed out of their homes which will become uninhabitable because of climate change. Would any country be within their rights to refuse entry to refugees, even if it is a country that is primary in the cause of them leaving in the first place?

[Selatius]

1. There is no international law, as far as I know, that compels a nation to accept refugees.

For instance, nobody ordered Syria to keep its borders open for four years to Iraqi refugees. Now, Syria has shut the door. The frank truth is Syria was under no obligation to accept the refugees at all, and I was surprised they kept the border open for so long before shutting it.

[Jed Dilligan]

3. It's mostly a matter of PR

For instance, of course the US government didn't want to move masses of Hmong to America, but the alternative was watching the Communists slaughter them (who allied with us) after we lost the war. It would have made us look like complete shitheads.

Now, of course, we don't worry about that--though a Dem president probably WILL do the right thing and accept Iraqi refugees. I'd guess Syria was taking them to make us look bad as much as for any other reason. Also to strengthen their reputation in the Arab world. Maybe they reached the point where accepting them stressed their resources, or maybe they started getting too many Shiites for their comfort.

As far as pollution goes, there's really no precedent that I can think of, except for the atoll bomb tests. We still have those displaced peoples and their descendants living in tent cities in Hawai'i. Then again, when we snapped up Diego Garcia the refugees were sent to Antanarivo. So who knows?

[Jed Dilligan]

2. Do you mean international law or universal morality?

On the first count, not sure, and on the second count, absolutely not.

[RestoreGore]

6. International law

I suspect that on the count of universal morality that we would falter as whole. I suppose there is no precedent for accepting people displaced by climate change in international law. We are woefully unprepared for what awaits us then.

[kestrel91316]

4. Those ungodly people on Tuvalu wouldn't have to worry about this

happening if they had just stoned the gays and prayed harder to Jeebus.

:sarcasm:

[Parche]

5. Global Swarming

What is Global Warming?
Al Gore Who? :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :hi: