Tourism to the Pacific Islands could become a thing of the past due to the risks posed by climate change, the region’s tourist authorities have said, echoing warnings from the United Nations (UN) and various meteorological authorities.
Christopher Cocker, the chief executive of the Pacific Tourism Organisation, has said leaders in the region have identified climate change as “the foremost threat to the livelihoods, security and well-being of Pacific communities.” He went on to emphasise that “Without immediate and innovative action, the future of tourism in the region remains highly uncertain.”
Paradise under threat
Though the islands, many of which have a paradisiacal reputation, are spread over a vast expanse of ocean, they are all at risk, Cocker said, from various dangers made worse by climate change, including floods, tropical storm damage, drought, and sea acidification.
“All islands of the Pacific are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. However, low-lying atoll countries like Tuvalu, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia are more vulnerable,” he said. “These islands are not only prone to inundation from rising seas, especially during king tides, but access to clean and safe drinking water is a challenge, with prolonged droughts and unpredictable rainfall patterns.”
Climate change threatens Pacific Islands tourism with rising sea levels, frequent cyclones, and water shortages. The future of this vital industry remains uncertain as urgent action is needed. #ClimateChange #PacificIslands pic.twitter.com/C8A5hmOaAF
— EcoInnovate (@EcoInnovate29) September 9, 2024
Increase in “catastrophic” cyclones
Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology and other modellers have predicted that climate change will mean “fewer, but more intense, cyclones”, but this is not the lived experience of residents in the region, who say the extreme weather events are actually becoming more frequent and more powerful.
Sione Taufa, an associate dean at the University of Auckland Business School and a New Zealand-Tonga Business Councillor, told the BBC that on Nomuka, in Tonga’s Ha’apai archipelago, about 3,500km off the Sydney coast, instead of the previous pattern of one or two “direct hit” storms a year, “nowadays we are seeing more of those category four or five cyclones coming in much more regularly.”
Cyclones can be huge weather systems, covering up to 2000km, and those with the highest categorisation (rated category four or five) entail winds of between 209 km/h to over 252 km/h, with certainty of catastrophic damage and very high risk of injury or death to people, livestock, and pets.
Injustice of sea levels rising more than elsewhere
Last month, UN Secretary-General António Guterres put out a call to action from the Pacific Island Forum Leaders Meeting in Tonga, a gathering of leaders from 18 Pacific Islands, including Australia and New Zealand. Guterres reiterated that it was developed nations elsewhere, particularly the G20 who produce 80% of the world’s emissions, who have a responsibility to cut and mitigate their effects. “The small [Pacific] islands don’t contribute to climate change,” he noted, “but everything that happens because of climate change is multiplied here.”
According to a recent “Surging Seas in a Warming World” UN Climate Action Team report, sea levels are rising at rates not seen for 3,000 years, with average levels up by 9.4cm over the last three decades. In the tropical Pacific however, levels are up by 15cm. This means the disappearance of low-lying land and water bore holes flooded with salinity.
Some Pacific communities are taking action to plant mangroves to protect coastlines, gather water during the rainy season, and fund protective measures, but there is a paradoxical situation. Tuvalu has been waiting seven years for a sea wall but paying for it is a problem and many of the islands, remote as they are, depend economically on the very tourism and aviation which is worsening climate change. Fiji, for example, welcomed over 900,000 visitors last year, mainly from Australia, New Zealand, North America and China. Tuvalu on the other hand, may disappear before it reaches anything like those numbers.
