The Kiribati People Battle Sea Level Rise [Slide Show]
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INSPECTING BIKENIKOURA Local officials inspect the vulnerable village of Bikenikoura during a rising tide. The village, constructed along a low-lying mangrove swamp, is naturally prone to flooding at high tides... Image credit: Simon D. Donner
RUNDOWN RUNWAY This seawall was constructed to protect the ocean end of Tarawa's international airport runway. A new design is needed to reduce damage from waves that overtopped the old wall as well as control erosion, depicted here at the end of the wall... Image credit: Simon D. Donner
TEMAIKU EROSION Coconut trees succumb to erosion and saltwater damage along the ocean shore of Temaiku, Tarawa. Once a channel between the ocean and lagoon, this area of land is particularly prone to flooding, especially as seas rise... Image credit: Simon D. Donner
HELP FOR LAGOON BREEZE An emergency sandbag seawall was constructed by the community in Eita, Tarawa, after a high tide flooded the Lagoon Breeze, a local rest house built next to vulnerable, reclaimed land. Image credit: Simon D. Donner
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PLANNING A MANEABA Leaders of the village of Borotiam on Abaiang Atoll inspect the potential location of an inland maneaba (community meeting hut), which could serve as an evacuation center during storms. Image credit: Simon D. Donner
WORKSHOP IN BUTARITARI A community meeting about the marine impacts of climate change in Butaritari Atoll, north of Tarawa (that’s me, pointing). Image credit: Toaea Beiateuea
RETURN TO SHORE Members of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources Development research team return to shore after a coastal monitoring dive. Image credit: Simon D. Donner
CAUSEWAY FIX Repairs along a South Tarawa causeway were needed following heavy rains and a “king,” or astronomical, high tide in early 2014. Image credit: Simon D. Donner
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SEAWALL REPAIR Workers from Kiribati add fill behind a seawall damaged during a 2005 storm. Image credit: Simon D. Donner
HASTE MAKES WASTE The design of this seawall led to beach erosion that exposed the water pipe that carries clean freshwater to the densely populated islands of South Tarawa. Image credit: Simon D. Donner
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