.tv Strange days in our favorite banana republic

[jwdomain]

Tiny Pacific State in Crisis
14:16 14/01/2011
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/4542477/Tiny-Pacific-state-in-crisis

A tiny South Pacific nation, Tuvalu, has resorted to emergency rule and its leadership under armed guard, sources on the capital atoll of Funafuti say.

The third smallest state on earth - after the Vatican and Nauru - has a population of just 10,400.

Sources say the country's solitary navy boat, Te Mataila, is now guarding the shoreline of the side-by-side residences of the Governor General Iakoba Itaeli and Prime Minister Willy Telavi.

A state of emergency has been declared and any gathering of 10 or more people prohibited.

There has been a march on Funafuti but so far there has been no violence, the source says.

Tensions are high however as people from the Nukufetau island community have demanded one of their members of parliament, Lotoala Metia, resign.

There has been a continuing power struggle in the 15 seat Parliament.

Last year, a large part of the New Zealand Defence Forces took part in a major exercise on Funafuti, designed to prepare the nation for tsunamis and other civil disasters.

The island nation is 1100km north of Fiji and has drawn the attention of environmentalists who fear it will disappear due to global warming.

Tuvalu makes much of its money from fishing and the sale of its internet domain suffix, dot TV.

 

[Vito]

Crazy world.
but very sad.

 

[jwdomain]

I dont think it's a big deal. Anyway, a surprise on the plus side... global warming is causing Tuvalu to grow bigger! ...

Pacific Islands 'Growing not shrinking' Due to Climate Change
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...wing-not-shrinking-due-to-climate-change.html

Low-lying Pacific islands regarded as "poster child" examples of the threat from rising sea levels are expanding not sinking, a new study has revealed. Scientists have been surprised by the findings, which show that some islands have grown by almost one-third over the past 60 years. Among the island chains to have increased in land area are Tuvalu and neighbouring Kiribati, both of which attracted attention at last year's Copenhagen climate summit.

In the study, researchers compared aerial photographs and high-resolution satellite images of 27 islands taken since the 1950s. Only four islands, mostly uninhabited, had decreased in area despite local sea level rises of almost five inches in that time, while 23 stayed the same or grew. Seven islands in Tuvalu grew, one by 30 per cent, although the study did not include the most populous island. In Kiribati, the three of the most densely populated islands, Betio, Bairiki and Nanikai, also grew by between 12.5 and 30 per cent.

Professor Paul Kench, of Auckland University, who co-authored the study with Dr Arthur Webb, a Fiji-based expert on coastal processes, said the study challenged the view that the islands were sinking as a result of global warming.

"Eighty per cent of the islands we've looked at have either remained about the same or, in fact, got larger. "Some have got dramatically larger," he said. "We've now got evidence the physical foundations of these islands will still be there in 100 years," he told New Scientist magazine. He said the study suggested the islands had a natural ability to respond to rising seas by accumulating coral debris from the outlying reefs that surround them. "It has long been thought that as the sea level goes up, islands will sit there and drown. But they won't," Professor Kench said.

The trend is largely explained by the fact that the islands comprise mostly coral debris eroded from encircling reefs, which is pushed up on to the islands by wind and waves. Because coral is a living organism, it continues to grow and establish itself in its new home, so the process becomes continuous. Land reclamation and deposition of other sediment also contribute to the process.