Nauru use UN spotlight to confront developed world over climate change

naura-pacific
Nauru, Micronesia, South Pacific.
Nauru, world’s smallest independent nation, is among the islands most threatened by rising sea levels. It is is a small Pacific island about the size of Manhattan with a population of approximately seven thousand people. The economy of Nauru has been almost wholly dependent on phosphate, which has led to environmental catastrophe on the island, with 80% of the nation’s surface having been strip-mined. Photo source: ©© Hadi Zaher

Excerpts;

Last month I returned to Nauru, the smallest member of the United Nations and my home.

The sea around us is getting warmer, droughts have become commonplace, and the coastal erosion is as bad as anyone can remember.

Similar trends are occurring across the Pacific and they have grave implications for the fish stocks we depend on for food, our freshwater supplies, and the very land we live on. Scientists have warned us that the situation will get much worse unless the greenhouse gas pollution responsible for global warming is dramatically reduced…

Read Full Article, Guardian UK

Phosphate Mining in Nauru Led to Environmental Catastrophe, The Sydney Morning Herald

Nauru, an Island Adrift, A Documentary,Toronto 2007

Nauru, une île à la dérive, Un Documentaire Video (30 minutes), Thalassa
” Ce reportage est pour moi symbolique des dérives des sociétés de consommation, de leur impact tragique sur les peuples fragiles et isolés. Autrefois deuxième pays le plus riche au monde, après l’Arabie Saoudite, Nauru est aujourd’hui un des pays les plus pauvres du Pacifique. Ce sont les mines de phosphate, qui recouvrent la totalité de l’île, qui ont fait autrefois la grande richesse des Nauruans. En une trentaine d’années à peine, l’exploitation du phosphate a transformé la petite démocratie en un pays corrompu et clientéliste ; elle a causé la faillite de l’Etat et la ruine de ses habitants, elle a enfin détruit toute une culture traditionnelle.”

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