Small islands on the front line of climate change
63 million people live in the small island states of the world. But its small size is more important than it might seem. 30% of the 50 largest areas exclusive to the exploitation of marine resources depend on them and their contribution to global biodiversity is not negligible: many of these islands are hotspots of biodiversity, some of the richest reserves of animals and plants and, being islands, the home of many endemic species. They are also very attractive places for tourism; only the Caribbean islands receive 21 million visitors annually.
This is explained by the United Nations in its 2014 edition message of the Year of Small Island Developing States. World Environment Day, to be celebrated on 5 June, has also been dedicated to them and, in particular, to one of the great threats of many of these small island states: sea level rise as a result of climate change. In fact, some of these island states have very little height - some have only one meter or two meters - and the rise of sea level can cause the complete disappearance of the islands. However, the consequences of climate change are already being affected by the contamination of freshwater reserves and agricultural land by sea salt water.
We have brought to this issue some of these small islands in the forefront of climate change. They are significant islands in danger of drowning by sea level rise and an extreme warning of what may occur on coasts around the world. Given that 40% of the world's population lives in a coastal area at 150 km, the threat is not null. And yet, unlike small islands facing climate change, climate change itself is no longer on the front lines of the media, and I would say that its interest has also declined in society as if we were satisfied. Two studies published 15 days ago in the journal Science on the inevitable spill of Antarctic glaciers show that climate change does not wait for us.
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