Five of the Solomon Islands have disappeared, says study

Australian research says that rising sea level brought about disappearance of uninhabited reefs and serious erosions in six other islets. island country is considered ideal place to study climate change.



Solomon Islands suffer effects of climate change

An Australian study reports that five islands of the island country Solomon Islands disappeared and six suffered serious erosion due to rising sea level. The scientists involved believe that the information in the report can help in future research on the effects of rising sea level.
"At least 11 northern islands of the Solomon Islands archipelago or disappeared completely during the last decades or are currently suffering severe erosion," says the text, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

The researchers analyzed aerial and satellite 33 islands, made between 1947 and 2014, in addition to interviewing residents. The five formations that disappeared were all islands of significant size reefs and vegetation. Although they were not populated, they were occasionally used by fishermen.

The study also indicates that ten houses were swept out to sea, between 2011 and 2014, one of the other six islands reefs that were damaged by severe erosion from rising sea level. In addition, the coastlines retreated in two locations, forcing communities established at least since 1935, to change.



Flooding caused by tropical cyclone in 2014 left trail of deaths, illnesses, homeless and destruction

Lessons on climate change

The study's lead author, Simon Albert, said the news agency AFP that the rise in sea level in the Solomon Islands is almost three times the global average, making the islands an ideal place to study the phenomenon.
Among other things, the report established a connection between the increase in sea level and the occurrence of bigger waves and therefore more dangerous. The information may be useful for future scientific projects, says Albert.

Besides the mentioned evictions, Taro, in the province of Choiseul, should be the first provincial capital of the world forced to relocate its residents and services to other areas as a result of rising water levels.

Solomon Islands, which have a total population of about 600,000, also were the scene of another natural phenomenon resulting from climate change in 2014: the Center for Disaster Epidemiology Research, based in Belgium, ranked floods caused by Ida tropical cyclone as the deadliest isolated disaster that year.

In addition to the 21 immediate victims of floods, most children under age 14, ten other children died in the following days, diarrhea and complications related to natural disaster. In the following months, thousands of other people, especially children under five years of age, had flu or diarrhea.