06.06.2024

Panama prepares to evacuate first island due to rising sea levels

The Gunas, the indigenous people of the small island of Gardi Sugdub, are the first of 63 communities along Panama's Caribbean and Pacific coasts to be evacuated due to rising sea levels in the coming decades, reports Euronews.

An official from Panama's housing ministry did say, however, that some people have decided to stay on the island, without disclosing a specific number. Authorities will not force them to leave, the official added on condition of anonymity.

Gardi Sugdub is one of about 50 inhabited islands in the archipelago of the Guna Yala territory. It is only 366 meters long and 137 meters wide. Seen from above, it looks like an oval surrounded by dozens of short docks where residents moor their boats.

Every year, especially when strong winds whip up serious sea waves in November and December, water fills the streets and enters homes. Climate change not only causes sea levels to rise, it also warms the oceans and thus causes stronger storms.

The Guns have tried over the years to fortify the edge of the island with rocks, dikes and coral, but the seawater keeps coming.

Guna's autonomous government decided two decades ago that leaving the island should be considered. However, at the time, the reason was that the island was becoming too crowded. The effects of climate change have accelerated the process.

The government of Panama has developed for the residents of Gardi Sugdub a new site on the continent at a cost of 12 million dollars. The concrete houses sit on a grid of paved streets carved into the lush tropical jungle just over two kilometers from the port, where an eight-minute boat ride takes them to Gardi Sugdub.

Consequences of climate change

“The upcoming move is a direct consequence of climate change through sea level rise. The islands average only half a meter above sea level, and as that level rises, sooner or later the Guns will have to abandon all the islands almost certainly by the end of the century or even sooner. All the coasts of the world are affected by this at different rates," said Stephen Peyton, director of the Smithsonian Institution's Physical Monitoring Program in Panama.

Residents of a small coastal community in Mexico moved inland last year after storms continued to claim their homes. Governments are being forced to take action, from the Italian city of Venice to New Zealand's coastal communities.

A recent study by the Climate Change Directorate of Panama's Ministry of the Environment, with support from universities in Panama and Spain, estimated that by 2050, Panama will lose about 2,01 percent of its coastal territory due to sea level rise.

"Our calculations suggest that it will cost about $1,2 billion to relocate about 38 residents who will face sea-level rise in the short to medium term," said Ligia Castro, director of climate change at the Ministry of environment.