Rising Seas, Violent Storms Create First Climate-Change Refugees - WhoWhatWhy Rising Seas, Violent Storms Create First Climate-Change Refugees - WhoWhatWhy

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Tuvalu flood
The main square of Nui Island is still under water over a month after Cyclone Pam created huge waves.  Photo credit: United Nations Development Programme / Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Most humans will not experience the full effects of climate change for some time. But higher sea levels are already forcing the inhabitants of tiny Pacific islands from their homes.

Climate-change deniers may want to talk to citizens of the island nation of Tuvalu — if they can find them.

Like other islanders living in the Oceania region of the Pacific Ocean, the people of Tuvalu are increasingly being displaced by severe weather. To them, climate change is not about congressional hearings and disagreements between the vast number of scientists on one side and a much smaller (often oil industry funded) group on the other.

For Tuvaluans and other Pacific islanders like them, climate change is an issue of survival. They truly live on the front lines of this existential battle.

The following video describes their suffering and how it is only the beginning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJufw587tzQ


Related front page panorama photo credit: Adapted by WhoWhatWhy from child in water (Seeker Daily / YouTube)

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