Tuvalu: The Sinking Island

A fund utilized to aid developing nations that fall prone to rising seas and droughts because of climate change, called the Adaptation Fund, is set to receive more money to accomplish its goals. This fund was discussing in a recent Reuters article, because of the climate change talks currently being conducted in Bali. Developing nations will feel the worst of climate change consequences since they do not possess the money to deal with the problems that will manifest. This is why they need a fund like this one.

Rich countries will be able to deal with climate change. Developing countries need to help, which meets much opposition from the Bush Administration. Regardless of our presidents ignorance of the issue, one consequence of climate change is a rise in sea level, which will swallow up small islands, like Tuvalu. Tuvalu is located in the Pacific in the middle of Hawaii and Australia. Approximately eleven thousand people live on the island, where more storms have been hitting annually then ever before. Because of extreme weather patterns and loss of land, they want international recognition. The Prime Minister of Tuvalu wants refugee status given to its citizens to relocate to Australia or New Zealand. Other islands subject to the effect of rises in sea levels indicated by projections from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change include Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Niue, and the Cook Islands.

Many approach environmental law with a view involving intergenerational equity. This concept is cogent when thinking along the lines of the time frame encompassing global warming and other environmental issues. Projecting towards the future, incorporating past blunders and ideas, as well as including today’s thoughts allows one to view the issue on a global scale. Intergenerational equity refers to a notion of fair and equitable measures for all generations.

Implicit in implications concerning intergenerational equity, is that developed/wealthier countries should take the upper hand in fighting climate change since developing nations are still not even able to provide for the present population. This is where the U.S. has a problem with intergenerational equity. They think developing countries should be subject to restrictions too. However, can this be so when developing countries are so poor they cannot even provide for the present generation of people?

Intergenerational equity is hard to define and measure in terms of preservation for the future since no one knows exactly what the future holds. Does said state care for past, present, and future generations and their fate on Earth and should they? Because climate change scientists can predict what is highly likely to happen in the future, funding to developing nations to adapt green technologies must be increased and readily supplied.