Marshall Island is an atoll state lying in the Pacific Ocean.
Geographically, the country is part of the larger island group of Micronesia. The country’s population of 58,413 people (at the 2018 World Bank Census) is spread out over 29 coral atolls, comprising 1,156 individual islands and islets. The capital and largest city is Majuro (Marshall Islands, Wikipedia).
According to the stuff article, the Island has been living consistently with the “devastating effects of climate change” and fearful with each king tide or storm will inundate their shores having only 1.8 m or just six feet sea-level elevation.
The article explains how the island’s bold early action against climate change has prevented COVID-19 from entering their shores.
As early as March 8, when the Covid-19 is spreading rapidly, they have banned all inbound visitors. “Bold actions come with costs, they have likened COVID-19 to climate change, if tackled inadequately or too late, each can destroy life permanently”. Thus “both require urgent and bold action on a global scale” (Nemra, & Loeak, 2020).
The Marshall Islands, through HAC (High Ambition Coalition), a group of states committed to climate action, have come up with an ambitious climate target for the Paris Agreement.
The article says that the Marshall Islands support the Green recovery and believes that if the stimulus package amounting to trillions of dollars would be invested in climate solutions, it will result in long-term economic recovery and climate resilience.
The residents of the Marshall Islands know that despite all their efforts, they are at the mercy of the big emitters and economy.
What these big emitters will do will have a severe impact on these small island nations that are already on the frontlines of climate change.
CLICK on the link below for further information on the climate actions that the Marshall islands is doing:
Citation source:
Nemra, C. & Loeak, C. (2020, June 10). How battling climate change helped the Marshall Islands fight Covid-19. Stuff NZ. Retrieved from https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/300031141/how-battling-climate-change-helped-the-marshall-islands-fight-covid19
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