Five Pacific islands lost to rising seas as climate change hits

Five Pacific islands lost to rising seas as climate change hits

The submerged islands were part of the Solomon Islands, an archipelago that over the last two decades has seen annual sea levels rise as much as 10mm (0.4in), according to research published in the May issue of the online journal Environmental Research Letters.

The missing islands, ranging in size from 1 to 5 hectares (2.5-12.4 acres) were not inhabited by humans. But six other islands had large swaths of land washed into the sea and on two of those, entire villages were destroyed and people forced to relocate, the researchers found.

One was Nuatambu island, home to 25 families, which has lost 11 houses and half its inhabitable area since 2011, the research said.

The study is the first that scientifically “confirms the numerous anecdotal accounts from across the Pacific of the dramatic impacts of climate change on coastlines and people,” the researchers wrote in a separate commentary on an academic website.

The scientists used aerial and satellite images dating back to 1947 of 33 islands, as well as traditional knowledge and radiocarbon dating of trees for their findings. More

Water, Water Everywhere

Water, Water Everywhere : Maldives - Image of the Day

The palm tree-fringed beaches of the Maldives give the appearance of an island paradise. But behind the tiny island nation lies a more complicated story.

The archipelago numbers 1,190 coral islands grouped into 26 atolls. Tourism powers the country’s economy, as 80 of its islands contain resorts. But its most lucrative asset—proximity to the azure seas—threatens to bring its downfall. The Maldives stands to lose much to sea-level rise, according to the United Nations.

As the smallest Asian country, the Republic of Maldives has a total population the size of a modest European city. The islands rise just a smidgeon above the Indian Ocean: roughly 80 percent of the country stands no more than 1 meter (3 feet) above sea level, according to the CIA World Factbook.
The nation was one of the first to warn of the effects of climate change that are already taking place. In 2009, then-president Mohamed Nasheed made international headlines by holding an underwater cabinet meeting in scuba attire to draw attention to the issue.

During bad storms, knee-deep water has inundated some islands. Malé, the capital and home to one-third of the nation’s residents—as well as multi-million dollar concrete stormwalls—has borne the brunt of several large storms in the past few decades. The city has also struggled to contain vector-borne diseases like dengue fever. (Heavy rains leave behind shallow pools where disease-spreading mosquitoes lay their eggs.)
This image was acquired on April 3, 2013, by the Advanced Spaceborne Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) aboard the Terra satellite. Note: the synthetic natural color image, which combines several different spectral ranges to simulate the look of natural color, makes the islands appear slightly brighter than would an aerial photograph.

(http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=89453&src=eoa-iotd

Masters Degree Scholarships for students from SIDS

Scholarships for students from SIDS

Please share this opportunity with SIDS residents interested in pursuing a Masters in the following fields:

A) - mitigation of climate change and the development of a low carbon economy,

B) - identifying risks and vulnerability to adapt to climate change and enhance resilience

C) - good governance of climate change.

You might be, or might know of, a promising graduate from a Small Island Developing State interested in coming to study in Malta at the University of Malta, on a full scholarship. Three such scholarships are on offer by the Government of Malta for courses starting Oct 2017.

More information available on request by emailing godfrey.baldacchino@um.edu.mt

Luxembourg’s Bid to Become the Silicon Valley of Space Mining

Forward looking and proactive thinking benefits small states and SIDS in today’s globalized and hyper-competitive environment.

In the 1980s, during the nascent days of the satellite communications industry, Luxembourg foresaw the fat cat it could become. The tiny European nation, known for steel manufacturing and tax breaks, provided financial support and passed regulations that allowed its homegrown satellite company, SES, to thrive. And because it provided that early support, one of the globe’s smallest countries came to host the world’s second-largest commercial satellite operator.

Luxembourg liked the way that went down. And now, 30 years later, the country is positioning itself to iterate on that plot, in a different off-Earth industry: asteroid mining.
Asteroid mining is what it sounds like: going to the solar system’s hard bodies, extracting valuable resources, and using them to make something new. If humans are going to become a spacefaring species, they can’t launch all the necessaries from Cape Canaveral. More

Free online learning course “Sustainable Energy for SIDS” to kick off on 9 January 2017

Small Islands Developing States (SIDS), but also other developing countries, especially in the Global South, still face distinctive challenges to ensure sustainable livelihoods for their current population as well as future generations. One of these challenges relates to energy – the access to affordable energy, the reliable supply of sustainable energy and the efficient use of energy.

To reach learners from SIDS all over the world, an unique online learning course has been developed to address this themes – 100% online! The L3EAP online learning course “Sustainable Energy for SIDS” (9/1 – 26/2/2017) seeks to inspire learners to ask the right questions and enable them to assess the opportunities of renewable and sustainable energy-efficient energy technologies offer for SIDS in particular. This course will help learners to think carefully and critically about current energy systems and energy use, and how we can improve energy access, energy security and/or energy efficiency in SIDS and beyond. Join our global learning community and….

REGISTER NOW:

Free online course “Sustainable Energy for SIDS”

Sign up at http://e-learning.project-l3eap.eu

Timeframe: 9/1–26/2/2017

Target groups: energy practitioners; master students (in particular engineering, environmental science, economics, social sciences)

Over a period of seven weeks and drawing from concrete experiences from Fiji and Mauritius (featuring 20 short learning videos and audio files with Dr Anirudh Sing, University of the South Pacific (USP), Dr Dinesh Surroop, University of Mauritius and further expert speakers; related training handbooks allowing deeper insights into the topics and further interactive resources and features, e.g. quizzes, discussion fori), the learners can explore the interdisciplinary nature of the topic in the interactive learning platform which is accessible at http://e-learning.project-l3eap.eu. Moreover, they are encouraged to interact and collaborate with fellow learners to form a truly global SIDS learning community. A number of qualified facilitators and tutors will accompany learners along the way, to clarify any open issues and providing guidance and spark motivation.

Although everyone is welcome to join (open access, free of charge), this course is designed for a specific audience, i.e. energy practitioners seeking to better grasp the interdisciplinarity of the topic and wanting to develop a concrete energy project proposal that may serve valuable in daily operations. Moreover, the course will provide students from a variety of disciplines (engineering, environmental science, economics, social sciences) with hands-on knowledge and project development know-how which could result in a concrete research project proposal which can, for example, be useful for an applied master’s thesis.

Moreover, as the material is of Open Educational Resources (OER) nature, it may be re-used, distributed, and amended by learners and instructors alike, allowing creative further development and allowing maximum utilization of these materials in other universities and teaching institutions all over the world.

Further information/contact project L3EAP:

EDULINK project L3EAP - see www.project-l3eap.eu

Franziska Wolf / Hamburg University of Applied Sciences

 

franziska.wolf(at)haw-hamburg.de