High Water in the Low Atolls

Hezel, Francis X. (March 2009). [www.micsem.org High Water in the Low Atolls]. Micronesian Counselor (Report). Kolonia, Pohnpei: Micronesian Seminar. pp. 1–10.

• Has attachment: File:BS37CB5T.pdf

Abstract: In recent years, islands in the Micronesian region have suffered serious damage due to wave surges, salt water flooding, and drought. While shoreline erosion is a common and increasingly serious impact, a more insidious one has to do with the salt water damage to agricultural crops. Most recently, it has been the high waves that have commanded the attention of island inhabitants, some living on atolls that are barely eight feet above sea level. From November 2007 through March of the following year, the region experienced exceptionally high tides, causing shoreline erosion and heavy loss of local crops. The high tides, as high as 20 inches above normal, were attributed to a La Niña effect in which sea levels rise as water temperatures increase and the easterly trade winds become more intense than usual. A year later, in December 2008, wave surges were again felt throughout the area–this time in the Marshalls as well as in FSM. The abnormally high tides plants more salt tolerant. This type of genetic engineering can be and is being done, but it has proven to be a controversial issue. In this day in which natural food has come to be so honored, do we wish to buy into such engineering? Further, if sea levels continue to rise, might any of these efforts only be temporary?