Carteret Atoll is composed of six low coral islands, including Han, Iagain, Iesala, Iolasa, and Piul, arranged in a ring-shape with a diameter of 16 km and a total land area of 0.6 square kilometers. The islands have a maximum elevation of 1.5 meters above sea level.
British navigator Philiip Carteret, for whom the islands are named, was the first Western source to record the islands, in 1767. Home to about 1000 people, the islands saw increasing difficulty in the later decades of the 20th century, including storms in 1995 which washed away major portions of shoreline and cut one of the inhabited islands of the atoll in two. Residents also face increasing agricultural difficulties, as rising salt water levels have caused difficulty for local breadfruit crops, and have forced them to become on aid drops from the Papuan government. On November 24, 2005, the Papuan government authorized the government-funded total evaucation of the islands, 10 families at a time; the evacuation is expected to be complete by 2007. It has been estimated that by 2015, Carteret Atoll will be largely submerged and entirely uninhabitable. 1767 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Binomial name Artocarpus altilis (Parkinson) Fosberg The Breadfruit is a tree and fruit native to the east Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean islands. ... November 24 is the 328th day (329th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2015 (MMXV) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
External links
Pacific Atlantis: first climate change refugees, by John Vidal, The Guardian
Islands battle rising seas for survival, by Michael Perry, Reuters
Kilinailau Islands at oceandots.com (includes satellite image)
The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. ... Reuters Group plc is best known as a news service that provides reports from around the world to newspapers and broadcasters. ...
CarteretAtoll (also known as the Kilinailau Islands or the Tulun Islands) is a set of six small islands located 86 km northeast of Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.
Part of Papua New Guinea, CarteretAtoll is set to become the first inhabited land permanently evacuated as a result of rising global sea levels.
CarteretAtoll is composed of six low coral islands, including Han, Iagain, Iesala, Iolasa, and Piul, arranged in a ring-shape with a diameter of 16 km and a total land area of 0.6 square kilometers.
It is in these atoll states that the challenges posed by global warming are most severe and where the necessity to respond to the threat of the greenhouse effect is most apparent.
In drought conditions access to groundwater on atolls is crucial although on some atolls with reasonably high rainfall the construction of better cisterns may enable the use of groundwater to be minimized or even ended.
Atoll states have moved rapidly into situations of extreme dependence on the outside world, primarily for aid, concessional trade, and migration opportunities.
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