Rains, Relocation, Rising Seas: Understanding the ‘local knowledge’ Problems of Climate Refugees

Nadin Morales hailed from Gardj Sugdub, one of the fifty populated islands in the archipelago of the Guna Yala territory in Panama. Twenty-four years old, Morales packed her belongings with sadness, in preparation for a dramatic change, the relocation to the  solid ground of a Guna Yala mainland, a fate destined to be suffered by residents of sixty-three communities along Panama's Caribbean and Pacific coast.

Bamidele Igbasan lived at Ayetoro, along Nigeria's southwestern coastline of the Atlantic Ocean. A 46-year-old farmer, Igbasan gathered with weariness his properties, following a development of dramatic proportions, the need for relocation to the mainland several kilometers away, a destiny lying in wait for residents of many of the nearby communities on the coast.

Nurse Tenako Reeta lived in Tuvalu, a small nation in the Pacific, an archipelago with nine reef islands and atolls that rose an average of only 4.6 meters above sea level. One day, Reeta gathered her hospital equipment with pain, following a reality of dramatic implications, the relocation from Tuvalu, a situation facing 11,472 people who see themselves as citizens of the nation.

Morales, Igbasan, and Reeta found it very difficult to adjust to the dramatic implications of their situation in Tuvalu, Ayetoro, and Gardj Sugdub respectively, but millions of people may  face events of such dramatic implications in Australia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and others, forced to relocate onto solid ground.

The event that saddened Reeta happened in March 2015, when a storm blew through Tuvalu, putting the lives of more than 300 people on the country's three northern islands at risk. As the storm hurled sand, boulders, and debris across atolls and islets, Nurse Reeta panicked, since some parts of Tuvalu stood at only two meters above sea level, a situation said to arise from rising seas from global warming. Reeta knew the surging ocean would affect her hospital, making treatment impossible for men, women, and children.

The disaster that sent Igbasan packing took place one day in May 2023, when strong winds pounded Ayetoro, a coastline community of about 5,000 people and 500 to 700 houses. As the wind blew through the streets, Igbasan shook with fright, since the wind presaged  floods, as a mighty rain would soon emerge after the winds, with the rising waters of the Atlantic Ocean filling the sinking town. Igbasan knew the surging ocean, said to be influenced by global warming, would occupy the town for a long time, rendering farming impossible for him, his wife, and children.

The occurrence that convinced Morales to relocate happened one day in May last month, when a high wind blew over Gardj Sugdub, an island with a 200-year-old history and home to 300 families. As the wind swept through the island, about 336 meters long and 137 meters wide, apprehension ran through Morales, knowing rain would soon come with floods, since the rising sea would pour water into the sinking island. Morales surmised that the rising sea, said to come from global warming, would soon take over the land, rendering life impossible for her mother, uncle, and boy friend.

In other words, the dramatic change  that confronted Reeta, Igbasan, and Morales, dramatic changes that proved very difficult to overcome, emerged from rising seas occasioned by global warming, so  a similar consequence faces residents of nations such as Australia, Sierra Leone, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and many others.

By 2050, Panama could lose 2.01 percent of its coastal territory to increases in sea levels. People like Morales and others who would need to relocate, about 38,000 or so today in Gardj Sugdub, would cost the government about $1.2 billion. Right now, Morales' relocation, as well as other inhabitants of Gardj Sugdub, would cost the government about $1.2 million, but this would be a far cry from the cost by 2050.

By 2050, Nigeria could lose Lagos, its commercial capital, along with places such as Ayetoro. Igbasan and others who need to be relocated could form a sizable population, as millions more of  Nigerians would be living then by the coastal areas. So right now, while Igbasan mourns about his farmland, the future consequences of his predicament  could be worse in the following years.

By 2050, 60 percent of Tuvalu's population could be exposed to the sea under a low emission scenario, and 80 percent with a high emission scenario. Reeta and thousands of others might be forced to relocate. Right now, Reeta might mourn over the hospital equipment, but it might involve greater pains in the future.

Reeta, Morales, Igbasan, and others in their respective communities could face greater challenges by 2050,  through the rising costs of global warming and relocation from coastal territories  due to rising seas, the same thing happening to victims in Australia, Kiribati, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and the others .

In Panama, the authorities built a relocation site for Morales and the others at a 30-minute walk from the coast, but failed to integrate traditional and local knowledge in the endeavor, causing sadness among the refugees. In Ayetoro, the government planned an embankment project to keep out the rising seas, but it refused to include community input in its policies, sidelining Igbasan and others, making them weary. The same trend took place in Tuvalu, the authorities ignored people like Reeta, bringing pain. 

The authorities need to include local knowledge and community input from people like Morales, Igbasan, and Reeta into policies, or thousands of people in Tuvalu, Ayetoro, and Gardj Sugdub will find the relocation from rising seas to the solid grounds of mainlands very difficult, an advice apt for the millions in Australia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and numerous other places.

What to Eat

Vegan food from Tuvalu, Credit, Credit, Young Pioneer Tours