Global warming was not something that I had thought about much until I started to look at the effects our choices would have on our lifestyle, now and in the future. I came across an article in Issue 80 of the Renew magazine published by The Alternative Technology Association called "Climate action - and inaction" by Alan Hoban who works with Friends of the Earth on the Climate Justice Campaign that talked about the effects on the Island Nations in our oceans like Vanuatu, the Maldives, and here in the Torres Strait with the Islands of Boigu and Saibai and not to mention all those coastal areas that will be flooded as the earth warms, the Arctic and Antarctic Ice flows melt and the sea rises.
An Antarctic ice shelf known as "Larsen B", which is almost 200 metres thick and has a surface area of around 3250 square kilometres, collapsed in March 2002 and broke into thousands of pieces which are now adrift in the Weddell Sea. Global warming is being blamed by scientists for the collapse. The breakup of the ice shelf took only 31 days, and glaciologists are reportedly both shocked and dismayed at the scale and speed with which it shattered.
How long before the Australian coastline, as we know it, will be some distance inland and low lying areas covered all together? What are our Governments doing about it? They still haven't ratified the Kyoto Protocol and will take a pasting for it at the Johannesburg Earth Summit in August 2002. What are you doing to reduce the Greenhouse Gases you produce?
Boigu is Australia's most northerly inhabited island, 6km from the Papua New Guinea coast. The island is swampy with surrounding mangroves. Boigu community has a population of about 340 people.
Boigu is a large low flat island formed from alluvial mud deposited on decayed coral platforms by neighbouring PNG's large river systems. It supports parse vegetation except for mangrove swamps. The entire island is subject to flooding except the village which is built on the highest point. But Boigu is very susceptible to the predicted sea level rises resulting from global warming and may have to be abandoned as the sea levels rise.
Saibai is one of the largest Torres Strait islands being 20km long by 6km wide. The island formed from alluvial sediment, built up over time from neighbouring Papua New Guinea's vast river systems a mere 5 kilometres to the north. At an average of one metre above sea level the island is a mixture of mangrove fringe, flood plain and brackish swamps.
The island is subject to flooding and to the expected sea level rises which results from global warming. The population stands at around 400 persons. There are strong links with the Bamaga community on Cape York as many Saibai people migrated there following floods in the 1950's. These people will also have to be relocated as the sea levels rise.
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