Photo Courtesy of Litokne Kabua. Retrieved from aljazeera.com
When it comes to climate change, the low-lying Marshall Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean are as front line as it gets.
The atoll state’s 60,000 inhabitants are witnessing the visible shrinking of their shores. Most of the 1,000 islands, spread out over 29 atolls, are only two metres above the swollen ocean.
Debate over rising sea levels is rife, but with ice sheets rapidly melting, many scientists believe rises in sea levels will smash current estimates of one metre by 2100.
This makes the Marshall Islands one of the nations – along with fellow Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Maldives – most at risk of disappearing under the sea.
Litokne Kabua, a 20-year-old student from the island of Ebeye, has watched his world changing since he was a young boy, the seasons bending into unpredictable shapes, bringing drought, cyclones and tidal surges.