Small Island Vulnerability: An Overview

Small island states (Figure 1.0) are particularly vulnerable to climate change due to particular characteristics that they have. In this entry I will explore what these common characteristics are as well as giving a quick overview of what the issues are that small island states face with respect to climate change.

Figure 1.0:  Locations of small island states (Pelling and Uitto, 2001).

                              

The majority of small island states are low-lying with the elevation of many islands reaching its maximum at 3 to 4 m above present sea level (Lal et al, 2002). This means that even very small increases in sea level have the potential to cause a dramatic impact for people living on such islands. Rising sea levels pose a threat for many reasons; the most obvious of these is submersion of land resulting in a decrease in the habitable area. This is likely to result in the displacement of people especially in Pacific and Caribbean Islands where over 50% of the population live within 1.5km of the shoreline (Mimura et al, 2007). In addition, coastal erosion of beaches may result in a reduction in tourism and thus climate change may adversely affect the economy of such states for which tourism is a major source of income. Another serious consequence of sea level rise is the intrusion of salt water into groundwater aquifers, this is a serious problem for small islands as many already have a very limited water supply (Mimura et al, 2007). In addition inundation of land with salt water may reduce the area of fertile land and thus have a negative impact on agriculture which is greatly important to the people living on such islands.

During the 21^st century air temperature is predicted to increase by between 1^oC and 4^oC which will result in sea surface temperature (SST) rises. Increasing SST may result in coral bleaching if coral cannot adapt to this change in temperature (Kelman and West, 2009). Bleaching would be devastating for the people who inhabit small islands as coral reefs are important in sustaining fisheries that the people inhabiting such islands are dependent on as a source of food and income. This situation is likely to be further exacerbated by the increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) which result in increased oceanic absorption of CO₂ and thus acidification of sea water which can cause further damage to coral.

Climate change can also pose an imminent threat to human health. Many small island states are located in the tropics or sub-tropics where conditions are already extremely conducive to the spread of disease whether this is via food, water or other organisms. An increase in surface air temperature is likely to increase the abundance of disease vectors or disease causing microbes and as such a large number of diseases such as malaria, dengue and cholera are likely to become increasingly common (Lal et al, 2002).

I hope having read this you now have a general understanding of the problems faced by small island nations in the face of climate change. In future posts I will expand on the information given here looking at the exact mechanisms that result in the threats outlined above as well as using case studies so to give real examples of these issues that as yet have only been discussed in a theoretical light.