Fiji
31.03.2022- The Fiji-Ilands

1) Personal story:

Catalina is 11 years old, and lives in a small village (Vunisavisavi, population: 84) on the south coast of Fiji’s island of Vanua Levu. Her community is already seeing significant impacts from climate change. Her hobby is fishing with her mother.

Catalina has noticed less fish and turtles in the sea lately.Her entire village has been feeling the impacts of climate change. Coastal erosion extreme weather storm surges rising seas. Sea levels around Fiji are projected to significantly increase this centrury.

“We just catch enough fish for us. We leave some to grow”, she said in the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0j8ZDexwN8

“When the weather is very bad, the seawater can reach my house”, she also sad.

2) General information about the climate change in Fiji:

Fiji’s Specific Situation

Home to over 870,000 people in the central South Pacific Ocean, Fiji’s 300 volcanic islands include low-lying atolls, that are highly susceptible to cyclones and floods. Fiji is heavily affected by climate change.

Sea flooding is usually associated with the passage of tropical cyclones close to the coast. However, heavy swells, generated by deep depressions and/or intense high pressure systems some distance away from Fiji have also caused flooding to low-lying coastal areas.

In 2012, Vunidogoloa became the first village to begin relocating to higher ground due to sea-level rise.

Looking to the future, the impacts of climate change on Fiji will only increase.

According to a World Bank report, climate threats to Fiji’s society and economy include:
higher rates of disease as average temperatures rise;increasingly destructive storms as oceans get warmer and weather patterns become more severe;and disruptions to agriculture as the intrusion of saltwater damages existing farmland.On Fiji’s main island of Viti Levu, these factors are expected to contribute to economic damages of up to $52 million per year, or roughly four percent of Fiji’s gross domestic product

Support by the International Community

source: 

https://unfccc.int/news/how-fiji-is-impacted-by-climate-change
https://www.pacificclimatechangescience.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1_PCCSP_Fiji_8pp.pdf

- sea level goes higher
villages relocating
-Fiji's temperature is rising as a result of climate change. The average maximum temperature of the country is rising at a rate of roughly 0.16°C per year and has risen by almost 1.0°C since 1950. Fiji's temperature is projected to continue to increase: under a high-emissions scenario, which assumes little to no change in greenhouse gas emissions, temperatures could rise by 0.4°C – 1.0°C by 2030.