Islanders need food and medicine

By ALPHONSE BARIASI
It may be an old story dating back to when the world first woke up to the reality of global warming and climate change.
But it needs retelling now for good reason.
The plight of the 600-something Nuguria or Fead islanders in North Bougainville is dire.
Critical questions on their future must be about when and where the atoll dwellers will be relocated. Not whether they should be resettled on safer ground or what could be done to save the atoll as it is certain there is nothing to be done. The atolls are sinking and soon will be reclaimed by the Pacific Ocean.
The effects of climate change are the same for the other Bougainville atolls – Takuu (Mortlock Islands), Nukumanu (Tasman Islands) and Kilinailau (Carteret Islands).
Between last December and January this year, the atolls have been inundated yet again by king tides.
For Nuguria communities there is today a critical need for short term assistance in food and medical supplies especially. The islanders’ main food source, the swamp taro has been wiped out by salt water and it is unlikely to recover soon or ever again.
The crop takes over a decade to mature and islanders may have seen the last of it because there might not be land for it to thrive.
The king tides have also destroyed homes, other food crops, water wells and the burial ground.
Flooded graves pose a threat to water wells and increase the likelihood of water-borne diseases.
The islanders rely on fish, beche de mer, trochus shells and copra for cash incomes. There are very irregular shipping services from Buka to the island. The island population lives on the main atolls of Bussuria and Hauma, surrounded by a number of uninhabited atolls.
The Nuguria Association in Port Moresby is appealing for assistance from businesses, donor and government agencies for immediate assistance, mainly food and medicine for the communities.
The four clans on the island are also doing a bit of fund-raising to meet such needs.
Obviously the long term goal of the association is to get the Bougainville government to negotiate with landowning clans of mainland Bougainville and find somewhere to resettle the atoll community, association president Luai Himata says.
Himata is aware of the complex nature of land acquisition for such a purpose, reminding himself that a previous attempt to resettle Cartaret islanders PNG’s first climate change refugees, had failed.
The process to settle the atoll communities will be long but must be undertaken.
Himata and association executives Shedrik Manuai and Obed Carson visited The National last week and spoke of their people’s plight and appealed to any member of the public who would be willing, to assist in their forthcoming fundraising efforts to assist the Nuguria communities.
The association has already begun fund-raising starting with an event at the Nature Park on May 6. On June 16, which is Bougainville Day, the association plans to stage another fund-raising event.
Cash donations can also be deposited into the Nuguria Association account (#7013539452) with Bank South Pacific’s BSP Haus branch.
A recent report on the status of the islands compiled by Warwick Brooker in collaboration with Freddy Taravaru and the Nuguria Association affirms the gravity of the atoll communities. (The effects of climate change and rising seas on the Cataret and Mortlock atolls has been well-documented already by other agencies.)
The report focuses on recent events at Nuguria and is based on the latest information from there.
“We receive these reports only when our people travel by dinghy from the atoll to Buka, as the telephone service to the atoll failed several years ago and there has not been a regular shipping service to any of the atolls for around 20 years, i.e. since the decade-long Bougainville War which ended in 1998,” the report’s authors stated.
“Late last year, the Fead Islands were swamped by king tides accompanied by strong winds. Shorelines were breached and practically all food gardens were destroyed. The staple crop at the atolls is a giant swamp taro that normally thrives in reasonably saline conditions but cannot tolerate a saltwater drenching.
“We are told that the taro will take at least 10 years to recover and produce. We understand that several houses were destroyed by strong winds at the Mortlock Islands in the same event.”
In December last year, the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) funded an emergency shipment of rice to the four atolls affected, Fead, Mortlock, Tasman and Carteret.
In February inundation at Nuguria atoll was the most severe in the current community’s experience.
Pictures in the report show the local government office and the main street and assembly area flooded by sea water.
“There is a house about 100 metres from the lagoon shoreline. About 20 metres on the lagoon sides of the house is a shallow depression in which banana, pawpaw and the leafy green vegetables once thrived.
“These food plants have been destroyed by the increased salinity in recent years, and during the latest king tides the area filled with water,” the report said.
“We understand there is more rice required for Nuguria, which evidently suffered more than the other atolls in last month’s tidal event.
“However, transporting it to the atoll poses another problem. The ABG owns a small vessel and occasionally funds an emergency commercial charter. However, since government revenues at this stage are very limited, it continues to rely heavily on Bougainville Peace Agreement funding from the Government of Papua New Guinea, which itself is struggling to provide essential services throughout PNG.”
The atoll dwellers have been commuting between the atolls and Bougainville by dinghy (banana boat) for many years. This is very expensive and at times risky practice and is done only when necessary and when it can be afforded. According to the report two young boys have died in Nuguria in the past few months, one from an acute illness that could have been treated had medication been available at the atoll and the other in a tragic accident related to last year’s tidal event.
“We received this dismal prediction from Freddy Taravaru, himself from Nuguria: ‘The islanders will see their islands washed out whenever there are high tides. Because of these disastrous events, there is an increased level of poverty in the community’.
“People will need to survive on dry coconut and fish while waiting for the swamp taro to grow until ready to harvest in 10 to 15 years’ time. They will have to adapt to a new way of living to survive.
“We like Freddy’s optimism. It will indeed be fortunate if these islands are still there 10 to 15 years from now. Some smaller islands at the atolls have submerged already.
“Climate change is taking a severe toll at the atolls via extreme weather and tidal events. These beautiful islands that have been home to thriving communities for many generations are succumbing to the elements.”