The effects of the climate crisis are not a mirage. For the residents of Vunidogoloa, this emergency means forced migration. The town, with just over a hundred inhabitants, is located on Fiji's second largest island, Vanua Levu, and has been flooded.
The rise in sea level is a threat that has already forced residents of six villages in the South Pacific country to leave their homes. But now the Fijian authorities are trying to improve the plan for the relocation of these peoples and their communities.
A special Fiji government task force has been working for four years to find the best way to move these villages to higher altitudes. The plan, which is now in the final phase of preparation and foresees the relocation of 42 towns in the next 10 years, will be presented to the Cabinet for approval "soon", as confirmed to La Vanguardia by Daniel Lund, a political adviser and specialist in climate risk management from the Government of Fiji.
“Currently, the climate consequences are most severe in small countries, but states around the world, from Manhattan to coastal areas across Europe, will be affected by flooding in the coming years,” said Lund, who participated in the COP 27, the UN climate change conference held this year in Sharm el Sheikh.
Fiji, more than 4,600 kilometers from Australia, is made up of 333 islands in the South Pacific Ocean and has a population of just under one million. The former British colony is one of the most vulnerable countries to the effects of the climate crisis; it has been hit by numerous cyclones in recent years. In addition, the authorities have registered an annual rise in sea level of six millimeters, above the world average, which, according to NASA data, is close to four.
In 2014, the residents of Vunidogoloa had to move two kilometers inland, leaving their homes behind. The flooding prevented them from farming, ending their food security, former village chief Sailosi Ramatu told Reuters.
This relocation, the first to be carried out completely in the country – at a cost of €432,806.75 – had flaws: the new houses have toilets, a septic tank and solar panels, but none have a kitchen. “We have relocated several towns over the years and in 2018 we established general guidelines,” says Daniel Lund, who denies any serious mistakes were made.
However, he acknowledges that "they have learned by doing", since, while in the past they encountered problems as they progressed with the relocations, now "we invest more resources to keep the entire community informed about each step new that is taken”.
Although the experts try to mitigate the failures committed in the first relocation, the residents of Vunidogoloa ask that the most developed nations – the ones that have contributed the most to global warming – curb their emissions and pay for the measures they are being forced to take to protect themselves from rising sea levels.
The G7 presented at COP27 the "Global Shield", an insurance plan to provide financing to countries that suffer climate catastrophes. Fiji is one of the recipients, but Lund believes that insurance "is not the solution, because it does not help with relocations" and has a "very limited in time" effect.
The climate change summit ended with a financing deal for loss and damage that, unlike many, Fiji and 130 other vulnerable countries consider a success. “Financing funds are not the solution either, but they help a lot,” says Lund.
Fiji will have to wait for COP28 to "achieve a more ambitious and forceful agreement, focused on curbing emissions and reducing the causes of global warming", because "there are still many needs to be met," says Lund.
Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the archipelago will have to continue facing the irreparable damage of climate change, because with each catastrophe the chances of another village joining the list of flooded towns increase.
