Climate Change in South Pacific Island Countries

This report explores the impact of climate change on the islands of South Pacific and suggests measures to address it. It also compares the situation in North Pacific countries and provides recommendations.

CLIMATE CHANGE IN
SOUTH PACIFIC ISLAND
COUNTRIES

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
Effect of climate change on South Pacific islands......................................................................4
Who is responsible for climatic changes.....................................................................................5
Measures for addressing climatic changes..................................................................................6
Comparison of North Pacific ocean countries............................................................................8
Recommendation.........................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Climatic change is basically the rise in average temperature within the earth's ecosystem
and thus leads to the development of global warming. The main purpose of this report is to study
the impact of climatic change on the islands of South Pacific and to devise various measure
which can be taken to overcome these.
This report gives a brief about effect of climate change on South Pacific islands, who is
responsible for climatic changes, measures for addressing climatic changes, comparison of North
Pacific ocean countries and South Pacific and recommendation.
MAIN BODY
Effect of climate change on South Pacific islands
The South pacific ocean is one of the renowned deepest as well as biggest ocean and
stretches from Arctic ocean to southern ocean. The western border of this ocean touches Asia as
well as Australia and its easier border covers North along with South America. This vast and
immense ocean is surrounded by the island countries like Kiribati, Palau, Vanuatu, Samoa, Fiji,
Tonga and many more. Although these islands have a great amount of natural resources but still
they remain vulnerable to the climatic change and thus are affected to a great extent. Climatic
change is basically the change in temperature of entire globe which give rise to global arming.
The effects of these climate change on these islands is imperative (Nunn and et.al., 2016).
Destructive winds
Climatic change is one of the greatest threat for sustainable development and thus fierce
destructive winds results in the development of cyclones. The Fiji island has been the prey of
these destructive winds from past few years. The destructive patterns of weather have hampered
economy of island and has given rise to cyclones. In the year 2016, cyclone Winston destroyed
FIJI and there were death of more than 44 Fijian s were reported. This cyclone destroyed the
homes and uprooted families with a damage of around $1.4 billion. This cyclone gusts at the
speed of 185 miles per hour and thus had a devastating effect (Weir, Dovey and Orcherton,
2017).
Rise in sea level
The most dominating effect of the climatic change in the islands of south pacific is the
rising of sea level. Due to the change in weather balance, the sea level in most of the south
pacific islands rises to around 3.41 mm per year and this leads to melting of ice caps as well as

water expansion (Barnett, 2020). Three has been a case of rise in sea level in Samoa island where
this resulted in the sedimentation and the island was under great threat as the temperature raised
to nearly 2 degrees due to which the ice melted and this submerged the island. Thus, rising of the
sea level is affecting the islands of south pacific to a great extent and transforming the shape of
these islands.
Ocean acidification
The greatest impact of climatic change which affects marine as well as coastal ecosystem
to a great level is ocean acidification. Ocean acidification is basically when CO2 enter the sea
due to various reasons like warming of water, meting ice etc. The islands of south pacific are
highly exposed to this condition and thus impacting the marine system of islands in negative
way. In the year 2018, Palau island was reported under the threat of ocean acidification where
due to the sudden Change in temperate, there has been the entrance of CO2 in the oceans and this
produced a toxic n oceans which was highly detrimental for the marine animals (Wairiu, 2017).
Thus, this ocean acidification as a result of climatic change is transforming the lives of each and
every island in South pacific.
Who is responsible for climatic changes
As this climatic change is causing a huge havoc in the islands of South pacific thus there
are some or the other entities who in some or the other way contribute towards this climatic
change. Although the responsibility of climatic change lies on the shoulder of wide range of
individuals but there are several entities whose role in this change is highly painstaking.
Industries
Industries are one of the most important source of CO2 as well as methane emission &
these gases greatly contribute the climatic changes as when they enter the atmosphere results in
ecological balance (Betzold, 2016). There are huge amount of industries which surrounds the
South pacific island and thus includes services industries, manufacturing, agriculture and many
more. Drawing on the survey, it has been reported that more than half these industries
surrounding South Pacific releases more than 63% of CO2 and CH4 in atmosphere and this give
rise to global warming. The development of global warming leads to increase in temperature and
this increased temperature greatly affects the islands of South Pacific.

Human activities
The activities of human beings largely affects the climate and thus leads to a great impact
over most of the aspects. Due to globalization, most of the people have shifted their business and
living on the South pacific island. These human activities on the south pacific island releases a
great amount of carbon do oxide together with other harmful gases which leads to global
warming in atmosphere (Scott-Parker and et.al.,2017). These gases not only affects the natural
conditions of different island but also lead to the death of many marine animals. In the year
2017, South pacific island was found to be under the great threat due to the climatic change and
the main reason behind was burning of fossil fuels by humans and build up of other activities.
Government
The government of South pacific is the another main cause of this climatic change which
is continuously leading to the destruction of these islands. Due to the lack of resources and
support from Australian government, the south pacific government is not able to frame the strict
policies for global warming and due to this, they are continuously lacking behind in taking
effective steps against climatic change. Due to the lack of strict rules and regulations, various
entities like humans, industries are continuously destroying the environment by their activities
and this is having a great impact on the various islands of South Pacific (Hamnett, 2017).
Tourists
It has been reported that the tourists contribute nearly one tenth towards the emission of
carbon and other greenhouse gases. Every year more than 52.4% of the people visit south pacific
and the nearby islands and thus their activity somewhere leads to the climatic change. The most
important source which gives rise to climatic change are different modes of transport through
which tourists travel to different islands. These convenience releases a great amount of harmful
gages in the atmosphere and thus results in the increase of temperature. This in turn leads to
melting of polar ice caps in islands (Barnett and Waters, 2016).
Measures for addressing climatic changes
There are various measures which can be taken for reducing the extent of global warming
and for coping up with climatic change
Reducing emission
This is one of the most important measure which can be taken by the government of
South pacific is posing the strict rules on emission of carbon di oxide and other harmful gases.

The government should limit the emission to the minimum from the various vehicles which are
being used across the islands (Morgan, 2017). For example- The ships which are being used for
travelling as well as for tourists should be under the serious pressure for using fuel efficient
machines and engines that will reduce the emission of carbon di oxide. Besides this, the
government should also release strict policies on the various transportation system to reduce the
emission to more than 1%.
Release of gases from factories
The most important source of the climatic change and global warming across the entire
south pacific is the release of contaminants from industries and factories. These industries
releases a great amount of harmful gases which when enters the environment disturbs ecological
balance. In order to overcome this, government of south pacific should establish rules and
regulation on them regarding the amount of carbon emission which they are allowed to release.
The most important part of this is the trading regulation which South Pacific government should
apply from small to large industries. This regulation should clearly specify the amount of gages
which are allowed fro industries. Besides this, there should be strict law against flowing
industrial waste in rivers and oceans (Fuavao, 2019).
3R's of the sustainability
The South pacific government in collaboration with Australian government should define
the 3R strictly which are reuse, reduce and recycle at regional and local level. The awareness of
this 3R should be disseminated at the large platform across all levels and there should be the
development of framework for strictly following the 3R (Hanich and et.al.,2018). This
framework should have the strict rules against throwing non-biodegradable wastes and thus
should be be fined to a great amount. This will reduce the climatic change to a great extent and
thus will lead to decrease of global warming. Besides this, there should should be a stringent
policy on reducing the emission of carbon due to use of various electric items in house.
Energy-efficient appliances
There should be a regulatory framework on using renewable energy and thus should be a
well-through policy for using energy efficient appliances. The government of south pacific
should implement a policy of using renewable sources of energy on industries for performing
their operations effectively (Evans and et.al.,2016). There should be formulation of rules for
using different sources like solar energy, hydropower, geothermal on industries and thus a strict

policy should be applied across all the factories. This will reduce the emission of harmful gases
in environment and thus will result in the great ecological balance. Thus, government should
establish practices for using renewable energy sources.
Comparison of North Pacific ocean countries
In Northern hemisphere, the north pacific ocean have a different situation as compared to
the south pacific ocean and is somewhat hinder little threat of climatic change. Although the
most of the north pacific counties are still under the threat of global warming and climatic but
due to moderate temperature, thus threat is somewhat low. It has been reported that the climates
in northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere are different and the northern regions is mainly
characterised by cool summers as well as cold winters. Along with this, there is less frequent
changes in the climate in northern hemispheres as compared to souther hemisphere. This is the
reason behind stability of weather between south pacific ocean and north pacific ocean. The
countries in north pacific ocean consist of Canada, China, Colombia, Guam and many more and
thus they experience less climatic changes due to the rotation of earth (Handmer and Nalau,
2019). Due to the rotation of destructive winds in counter-clockwise in northern pacific oceans,
they does not lead to the huge damage of human lives. It has been reported that the prevalence of
these destructive winds and cyclones is 24.6% less than the south pacific ocean and the cases are
somewhat less that most of south pacific islands. This is due to less climatic change and global
warming in these countries. Besides this, the most important aspect which has reduced the
growing climatic change in these north pacific countries is the strict government polices
regarding environment. Most of the countries like Canada, Colombia have strict rules and
regulations regarding environmental pollution and thus contribute to the great extent for reducing
global warming. For example- the government of Canada has passed an act which is fuel additive
act under which there is a limit on the emission of carbon an dither gases that are released from
various vehicles and violation of this act addresses 6 years of imprisonment. Thus, this have
reduced the emission of carbon in North pacific counties due and strict punishment has
compelled the industries and other entities to comply to these acts and rules seriously.
Although as compared to the south pacific islands, the impact of climatic change on north
pacific countries are low but the problem of ocean acidification is common in both. Even in the
oceans and rivers of these countries, a great amount of coral bleach has been reported which has
impacted marine life in a negative way. Due to high temperature, the oceans in the north pacific

countries heats up to a great level and thus leads to a phenomenon which is coral bleach. The
stress of temperature changes the living conditions of marine animals and hence their
metabolism gets disturbed (Vince and et.al.,2017). This at the end leads to their death.
Recommendation
In order to protect the south pacific islands from the detrimental effect of climatic
change, not only the government but the wider community should step forward and thus should
take various initiative.
One of the most effective step and strategy which can be applied for reducing global
warming and climatic change is encouraging the awareness among people to reduce the activities
which could lead to this situation. The government should along with other regional ad national
government continuously engage in developing campaign for making the people aware of
harmful effects of burning fossil fuels. They should be encouraged regarding the concept of 3R's
and should be motivated to reuse the various items (Weir, 2018). For example- the waste paper
releases high amount of oxides which when enters atmosphere leads to acid rain thus in this
context, people should be encouraged to reuse the water parer. Besides this, the government
should also educate people on the various harmful effects of different materials like fossil fuels.
Another strategy which should be adopted for reducing the harmful effect of climatic
change is posing strict regulation on industries and factories on the amount of gases which they
release. Besides developing the framework, industries should also be encouraged to reduce the
emission of gases from their production process. Theses industries which are heavily involved in
wide range of activities like construction, manufacturing should be strictly bound to take carbon
credit where they will be allowed to emit only a considerable range of carbon mentioned in the
trade. Different industries have different permissible amount of carbon release mentioned in
credit which they are required to follow thus thus should be made mandatory on all the factories
and industries operating in or nearby south pacific island. Along with this, the government
should strictly monitor the activities of industries as whether they are complying environmental
policies or not (Nunn and et.al., 2016).
On of the most important strategy which should be used for protecting the islands of
South pacific from global warming and other effects of climatic change is encouraging energy-
efficient appliances. Becoming energy efficient is one of the greatest way for preventing
pollution. Not even the industries but the households should be highly encouraged to use energy-

efficient appliances that will reduce emission of harmful gases in environment. For example-
people in their houses should replace light bulbs and lights with the most efficient bulbs like
CFLs that not only saves electricity but also keeps the environment safe.
CONCLUSION
It has been summarized that climatic change has been one of the most important issue
which has surrounded most of the countries but majorly it affects the islands. The effect of this
climate change has been seen extremely on the islands of South pacific. There has been the
prevalence of global warming and climatic change in the islands of South pacific from past few
years and thus there is need to take some measures for overcoming it.

REFERENCES
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