Scidev.net

In this month’s show, we visit the island state of Kiribati, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, whose future is at risk from rising sea levels brought about by climate change. Scientists agree there are limited adaptation options for the tiniest archipelagos of the small island developing states (SIDS), a group of diverse tropical islands facing similar economic and environmental issues. Within 30 to 50 years, it is likely that Kiribati, along with other small states such as the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu, will disappear beneath the ocean. In SciDev.Net’s UK studio, we hosted Victoria Burns, whose film, Tinau (My Mother), portrays a disappearing nation through the words and memories of her Kiribatese family. We report on the climate science behind the human crisis with Elizabeth Carabine, a researcher at UK think-tank the Overseas Development Institute. She explains the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s findings about small islands and rising sea levels. Ilan Kelman, a researcher at University