Environmental challenges of the Pacific Islands

Identification: The several thousand islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia scattered throughout the tropical Pacific

The environmental challenges in the Pacific Islands region are diverse. They include depletion of nearshore fisheries, pollution of limited freshwater resources, soil degradation, reduction of biodiversity, and waste management problems. These environmental challenges are complicated by such factors as the islands’ limited natural resources and their geographic isolation, as well as by the lack of monetary resources to address the problems.

The Pacific Islands region comprises nearly thirty thousand islands scattered over 30 million square kilometers (11.6 million square miles). Approximately one thousand of the islands are inhabited. The region is divided into the three island groups of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, which reflect the cultures and ethnic features of the indigenous inhabitants of the islands. The main countries and territories in the region are American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji Islands, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna Islands.

The Pacific Islands are also divided into low islands and high islands. The low islands consist mainly of coral reefs and atolls, most of which are only a few meters above sea level; these include the Marshall, Phoenix (Kiribati), Tuamotu (French Polynesia), and Tuvalu groups. The high islands are hilly and some mountainous; these include New Britain, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the Marianas, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. The total population of the Pacific Islands region in 2023 was approximately 2.6 million. Several of the nations, such as the Solomon Islands, have historically high birth rates. In the decade of the 2020s, other nations had population growth rates that were below that needed to sustain a population, or a rate of 2.1 births per woman. Islands that experienced this trend included the Marshall Islands.

The environmental challenges of the Pacific Islands region are diverse. They include depletion of nearshore fisheries, pollution of fresh water, soil degradation, urbanization, reduction of biodiversity, damage to nearshore nursery habitats, waste management problems (involving solid, nuclear, and chemical wastes), and stressed natural resources related to tourism. The most serious environmental challenges facing the small island developing states are complicated by traditional approaches to land management, limited natural resources, small and fragile ecosystems, geographic isolation, and poverty (thus a lack of adequate capacity for response). The Pacific Islands region can be divided into three zones, each with its distinguishing environmental problems: the low island states, the small and midsize high islands, and the larger high islands of the western Pacific. All countries in the region share some environmental challenges,..

Low Island States

The small, low-lying coral islands of the Pacific region (Cook Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Niue, Nauru) have extremely limited resources and are economically deprived; thus their capacity to respond to environmental problems is limited. The most serious environmental issues facing most of these countries are the pollution of limited groundwater with sewage and salt, problems with solid waste disposal, lack of land available for agriculture, and rapid population growth. For example, approximately 65,000 Marshall Islanders live on 180 square kilometers (69 square miles) of atoll land, which provides each person only 0.3 hectare (0.7 acre) of land. Conversely, each person has economic sovereignty over 40 square kilometers (15 square miles) of ocean. .

The low island states constitute one of the most vulnerable places on earth should sea level accelerate due to global warming. The island group of Tuvalu is often used as an example of this projected problem. However, since instrumentation was installed in 1993 to monitor sea level on Tuvalu’s main island, Funafuti, no discernible changes have been seen. Some inundation is evident on the island, but it is the result of erosion, sand mining, and construction projects causing an inflow of seawater. Other factors are also involved, such as excessive use of fresh water for irrigation, a consequence of which is seawater encroachment into vegetable growing pits. Part of the problem is related also to the fact that about one-fourth of the island has been paved over with roads and airport runways. This reduces the infiltration of rainwater into the freshwater layer. When this increased runoff is combined with a high tide, flooding along the coast gives the appearance that the sea level is rising. Perception of trends can also be affected, as increasing population on the islands means people are living on flood-prone land that was previously avoided.

Coral is capable of growing along with sea-level rise, and the atolls are not static. The islands grow as they are replenished by coral that breaks off the reefs and is thrown ashore by storms. In this way atolls are self-maintaining, provided humans do not intervene, such as by digging coral for use in construction work and building flush toilets that discharge effluent into the sea and affect coral growth.

Small and Midsize High Islands

The people of the small and midsize high islands of the Pacific (Tonga, Samoa, French Polynesia, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, American Samoa, and Northern Mariana Islands) are mainly agrarian. The islands have small or no commercial forests and no commercial mineral deposits. The main environmental issues faced by these islands are shortage of land, loss of the surviving native forests (with associated loss in biodiversity), invasion of exotic animal and plant species, decline of coastal fisheries, coral reef degradation, problems with solid waste disposal, and contamination of groundwater and coastal areas by agricultural chemicals and sewage.

Some of the small and midsize high islands are more fortunate than others; Tonga and Samoa, for example, have nearly self-sufficient food supplies and receive high levels of remittances from expatriate island communities living abroad. French Polynesia is a French territory, and Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa are U.S. territories; all of these nations have high standards of living based on subsidies.

Larger High Islands of the Western Pacific

The larger high islands of the western Pacific (Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, and Fiji Islands) have relatively large human populations and are comparatively rich in mineral and forestry resources. Environmental pressures on these islands are linked for the most part to rapid population growth and to complications associated with traditional approaches to land management that have led to land degradation. Other common problems arise from unsustainable deforestation, the depletion of nearshore fisheries, the pollution of rivers and lakes caused by mining and agricultural practices, and the invasion of exotic species.

Regionally Shared Environmental Problems

Coastal and marine problems are among the most common kinds of environmental issues in the Pacific Islands region. The main concerns are coastal erosion; depletion and pollution of mangrove forests, sea grasses, and coral reefs; depletion of shallow-water and coastal marine life; and unsustainable management of offshore fishery resources, including destruction by drift-net fishing, commercial bycatch of seabirds and marine mammals, and whaling.

Certain natural hazards are also common among the islands of the Pacific. The region lies on the western perimeter of the Pacific Rim of Fire, an area of severe seismic activity extending from the Northern Mariana Islands in the north to Vanuatu in the south. Earthquakes, volcanic activity, and tsunamis are persistent major threats, and tropical cyclones, floods, and drought are not infrequent. These extremes have serious environmental consequences when combined with unsustainable land-use practices.

Another problem common to many islands in the region, especially atolls, is the pollution of the limited supplies of fresh water available. With increasing population, accompanied by increasing construction, agriculture, and tourism, islands’ water supplies have become contaminated owing to agricultural runoff and inadequate sewage management systems. Tourists place additional stress on local ecosystems and place big demands on water supplies and on waste disposal systems.

Declining biodiversity has been seen on many islands in the region. Many unique species of plants and animals evolved in isolation in the Pacific Islands region, and the specialized habitats to which they adapted are vulnerable to destruction by deforestation, land clearance, fire, agricultural chemicals, and nonnative organisms introduced by visitors to the islands.

The extraction, processing, and transport of mineral resources have caused localized environmental damage on some islands. The major mining centers are found in Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, and Fiji, where regulations intended to minimize damage from mine tailings, processing fumes, and siltation of streams have had varying degrees of success. Mining for construction material is widespread throughout the Pacific Islands region and is a problem that increases in step with population growth. Small islands suffer the most. The removal of sand (for concrete) from beaches causes coastal erosion, and the dredging of coral reefs and lagoon sands, along with the use of corals for building material, often causes irreversible damage.

Negative Impacts of Global Climate Change

The Pacific Islands are especially vulnerable to the negative effects of global climate change. In the 2020 decade, these have included more intensive weather events such as cyclones, extreme rainfall, and drought. Economic and environmental harm has been done to coral structures and the fishing industry, as well as to housing, transportation, and communications infrastructures. In 2022 the Cook and Solomon and other island groups were subjected to drought, necessitating outside assistance.

The World Health Organization has described Pacific populations as being under threat by global climate change. These human populations are being subjected to greater risks from climate-sensitive diseases that more rapidly proliferate because of extreme weather events. These include malaria, dengue, and cholera.

In 2022 Nikenike Vurobaravu, the President of the small Pacific island of Vanuatu issued remarks to the United Nations General Assembly. Vurobaravu advocated payment from industrialized countries to islands such as Vanuatu. Vurobaravu stated that environmental damage from these larger nations was subjecting smaller countries to environmental catastrophe. In the case of Vanuatu, the populations from six villages had to be relocated due to water supplies that were now too saline for human consumption. Vurobaravu suggested that these polluting countries had a financial obligation to rectify the environmental harm such as Vanuatu was having to contend.

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