Early this month, the United Nations Development Programme travelled to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Milne Bay and Morobe provinces to film the reality of climate change crisis in the country.
On Ormot Island in the Morobe province, the islanders share the impacts of the shrinking islands due to the rise in sea level.
Ormat Islander Sipora Nargara said, “We are islanders. We live on fish and there is no fish where they wanted us to resettle. We are not used to life there.”
In Milne Bay, provincial disaster officer Steven Tobessa said the province has over 600 small islands and atolls. He anticipates locations for these islanders in the near future.
The Carteret islands in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville are among the first in the world to be relocated due to climate change.
There were efforts in the 1980s to relocate the islanders to the mainland, but they keep returning to their island.
Rose Salei who now lives in Tinputz shares how young Carteret islanders should learn the customs and traditions of the Tinputz.
She said, “We have learnt the customs of the locals. For example, death we follow the locals.”
All disaster coordinators in the three provinces echoed similar sentiments, to work in solidarity to mitigate and reserve the effects of climate change.