Island nations plan for rising seas, mass migration

By Ajay Makan

MALE, Maldives (Reuters) - Countries usually evacuate their citizens because of war or a sudden and catastrophic natural disaster.

For the Pacific island state of Kiribati, the climate change disaster facing the nation is no less dramatic but on a slower time scale and means preparing its 100,000 inhabitants for lives in nations less vulnerable to wild weather and rising seas.

"The breakup of our nation is a possibility," Environment Minister Tetabo Nakara told Reuters on Wednesday on the sidelines of an international meeting of small island states in the Maldives capital Male.

Nakara said two villages had already been evacuated because of rising seas since 2000. A government program aims to give every adult in the archipelago a trade marketable in neighboring developed countries within five years.

At the Male meeting, representatives of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) want to present a resolution at a U.N. climate change conference in Bali next month.

"It is time to put people back at the heart of climate change diplomacy," Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom told the conference on Tuesday.

Delegates are expected to agree a declaration that climate change threatens the fundamental right to a safe, secure and sustainable environment, forcing developed countries to view rising seas through the prism of human rights.

With a combined population of less than 15 million people and six members who lack U.N. membership, the 43-strong alliance is a small player in the international community.

But delegates hope to exercise moral authority in Bali by showcasing examples of how climate change is already impacting on individual livelihoods.

"We don't want to give up on our culture and civilization,"

Nakara told Reuters. "But we don't want our people to end up as second-class citizens in another country either."

Like the Maldives, St Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean lies just two meters (seven feet) above sea level.

SWALLOWED BY THE SEA

Forced land purchases to build an international airport in 2006 provided the first evidence of major coastal erosion.

"We had owners coming to the government with deeds for five acres, but when we surveyed the area, there were only three left," the country's ambassador to the UN explained.