Image credit: Nick Rice Chudeau. Excerpt from unicef.org
Kiritimati is a pristine tropical island with turquoise blue lagoons and white sandy beaches with lush coconut groves. Located in the Central Pacific, Kiritimati is part of Kiribati – an island country of Micronesia comprised of 32 atolls scattered across 3.5 million km2. Kiritimati truly is a paradise island today, but how can we protect it so that it can remain so for future generations?
Kiritimati only had 38 inhabitants in 1931, but as of 2020 has more than 7,400 – 44 per cent of whom are under 19 years old. With this growing population comes the challenges of balancing the growing pressures of sustainable urbanization with protecting a sensitive ecosystem, all while safeguarding the health of I-Kiribati children.
Kiritimati doesn’t receive much rainwater, and weather patterns have become increasingly unpredictable, so the majority of the population relies on groundwater. Since most of the land in Kiritimati is just a few metres above sea-level, communities like Poland where Beeta lives, are extremely vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis.
UNICEF is working with the Kiribati Ministry of Line and Phoenix Island Development (MLPID) and the Pacific Community (SPC) to improve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene, as well as strengthen community, household and institutional resilience for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).