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Student’s research to save island home
Research by a University of the Sunshine Coast postgraduate student aims to help save his low-lying home country from being swamped by the “extreme impacts” of climate change and rising sea levels.
Riibeta Abeta, 31, came to Australia last year from the remote Pacific Island nation of Kiribati (pronounced keer-ah-bhas) to study USC’s new Master of Climate Change Adaptation.
Mr Abeta, who previously worked for the Republic’s Environment and Conservation Department, attended the United Nations conference in Copenhagen with two USC academics in December.
He has now presented his thesis on the barriers to Kiribati’s capital of South Tarawa adapting quickly and effectively to the threats of global warming.
Although the coral atoll escaped damage after the recent Chilean earthquake, it was increasingly suffering from rising sea levels and severe weather events such as storm surges.
Mr Abeta said a recent risk assessment warned that Kiribati could start losing significant land mass to inundation by 2075.
“Problems are happening already,” said the Caboolture resident, citing the deaths of children due to poor drinking water quality predominantly caused by seawater intrusion.
“The island’s population of 100,000 is growing fast. More people are squeezing into limited space and urbanisation means structures close to the water will be in jeopardy.”
His thesis argued that Kiribati institutions had “low adaptive capacity” to effectively manage the coastal zone, compounded by chronic low human and financial resources.
Mr Abeta said his thesis recommended urgent measures to overcome socio-economic, bio-physical and technical barriers to adaptation.
Disappointed by the lack of agreement between countries in Copenhagen, he said he had strong motivation to push for solutions to global warming.
“For us, it’s a matter of survival.”
– Julie Gatehouse