Climate change in the Pacific – a first hand view

The last month has seen a variety of press, blogging and talkback responses to a current affairs article on climate change that screened on the Sunday showon New Zealand’s TV1. Sunday featured footage from a sea flood on the atoll of Takuu, 250 km Northeast of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. This footage is part of a larger documentary, There Once was an Island: Te Henua e Noho, that I am producing with director Briar March. Our film follows the atoll’s community as they consider whether to stay on Takuu or prepare to relocate to the mainland. The film also considers the possible impact of climate change for people living in low-lying areas so we were happy to be included in a wider discussion on this topic.

The situation Takuu faces is a complex one but this complexity has not been fully addressed in the commentary I’ve seen or heard since the article aired. In particular there has been a heavy reliance on a factually incorrect article on Wikipedia (now updated). This article claimed that the atoll was “sinking” and stated tectonic activity as one of two reasons for this phenomenon. In fact, reasons for the sea flooding, erosion and salination that the community can see happening on the atoll are not clear. This is largely due to the fact that, until Briar and I took oceanographer John Hunter and geomorphologist Scott Smithers to the island, no one had examined the local situation from a scientific perspective. Their research indicates that tectonic activity is not contributing to what is happening on the atoll. This begs the question – what exactly is? And why so much misinformation?

Having been on the ground in Bougainville, it is apparent that lack of research in the area is due to poverty and the extant political situation that goes with it. No one can pay for research to be done and there are more immediate social concerns. In other words the negative impacts of floods and salty gardens on the Takuu community are exacerbated because the atoll communities of Bougainville, at the very bottom of an impoverished heap, are unable to get adequate infrastructural support to ensure that basic standards of living are met on a continuous basis. Bougainville is still recovering from the long-running civil conflict of the 1980s and 1990s while PNG’s national government is apparently unable to help.

This meant that, during the floods on Takuu, there was no early warning, no reliable news from the outside, no way of understanding, even with two scientists and a satellite phone, what had caused the situation. The nearest we could guess was that a large storm to the northwest had caused waves that increased the level of an especially high tide, at a point in the La Nina cycle where water levels were already very high. In any case, there was no hope of rescue. The local government was unable to send a boat to help, and when we left, six days later, no relief supplies were on their way. While we were shooting in Bougainville just after leaving Takuu, the boat that services the atolls put out to sea but lost its engine and was adrift, full of passengers, for two days until it could be located and towed to port. It was some time before a boat did finally make it to the atoll with the food that the people needed.

About a month ago we heard that the people from several atolls, including Takuu, have signalled to the Bougainville government that they would like to be considered for relocation. With current levels of financing and the political issues surrounding land-ownership after the civil conflict, this will take years, but the decision itself speaks volumes. When we left the island in the wake of the 2008 flood, people once determined to raise their children on Takuu were beginning to think they had to move for the safety of those children. It now appears some people have made a firm decision to go, knowing this will eventually spell the end of their cultural identity, their language and their way of life. In his editor’s preface to Richard Moyle’s recent musical ethnography of Takuu, Dr David Hanlon noted prophetically, “It would prove a sad irony indeed if this first full ethnography of Takuu were also the last.”

I’m very aware that it would make for a simpler, more easily understood storyline to say that Takuu is being swamped due to climate change, or alternatively that this process has nothing to do with the atoll’s situation. However at this point it’s not possible to take such a didactic position – not enough research has been done on the present state of the atoll and the future is notoriously difficult to predict. What I am attempting instead is a reasoned look at the available information.

Although analysis is still ongoing, Scott Smithers’ initial observations suggest there has been a relative drop in sea level at Takuu over the last few thousand years. His feeling is based on the fact that remnants of a higher reef flat, - most likely of mid to late Holocene in age - perhaps 5000 years old – occur and are elevated around a metre above its modern equivalent. This suggests a relative sea level fall over that period, and there is no evidence of significant relative sea level rise as would be expected if the islands had been subsiding. The geomorphic evidence from Takuu therefore suggests that active tectonic subsidence is not, as I mentioned previously, in action. The comparatively recent past has, in fact, shown a drop in sea level around the island.

John Hunter has looked extensively at sea-level rise around the world and is looking to the future. He believes that the kind of flooding events that the community experienced while we were on Takuu are likely to become more common as the earth’s sea level rises with climate change. This is not all bad - these floods would normally build the atoll up by washing sediment onto it, and living on Takuu could be managed so that homes and gardens are not destroyed. John also believes, however, that if ocean acidification takes its toll on the coral reefs, this replenishment with sediment may not happen. The only solutions for the islanders would then be "engineering-type" ones such as mechanically building up the island and beaches with local sediment. These measures could well prove expensive, although there is no ready information on the relative costs of all the different options, but John believes it would be desirable if all options were considered before there is any wholesale relocation of the population.

From my perspective however, the unfortunate reality is that Takuu has no access to early warning or rescue when a really big storm comes along. The community have no money or support to build the atoll up or change their housing to protect themselves. The poverty they find themselves in inevitably makes relocation the most logical, if heartbreaking, option. Sadly this is also true for other atolls in the Bougainville region, and doubtless for many other poor communities in low-lying areas around the world.

I am a filmmaker, and certainly not a climate change scientist. I came to be making a film that touches on climate change because I could see a compelling story about a group of people and what is happening in their lives right now. The immediacy of their situation and the flooding event we shot on the island reflect the focus that the news media usually takes – things that are topical, sudden or a development of an earlier story. But climate change of any kind is usually a long process – longer than our personal experience or living memory, longer than the interval between floods, or hot spells or unusual typhoons. It’s certainly longer than the production period on a film and is extremely difficult to predict. Like so many of the climate change deniers I hear on talkback or read on the blogs, I am not an expert on the complexities of the science. However, when I consider what I know, I tend to believe that the balance of probability cannot be in our favour. If my pessimism is founded, places like Takuu – unique, powerless and with a tiny carbon footprint – will be the ones who suffer first. And there’s a terrible irony in that.

- Lyn

Help Takuu!

If you saw tonight's broadcast of "Sunday" on TV1 and want to find out more about the island of Takuu and our film, please read below for the story of the shoot and the big flood, or visit our website www.thereoncewasanisland.com.

If you would like to help the community of Takuu Atoll, or you would like to help us complete our film and share what's happening on the island with the rest of the world, please contact us:

Lyn Collie
+ 64 27 282 9593

Briar March
+ 64 27 474 9021

Briar and Lyn talk about Takuu on "Sunday'"

Briar and I are excited to announce that we're appearing in an article on climate change in TV1's Sunday" show on May 3 - that's THIS Sunday.

We're going to be talking about the situation for the people on the island and everyone's experiences during the huge flood - you'll get a sneak preview of some of the footage we shot then - this is the first time that these scenes have been seen anywhere and they're really quite full-on.

Tune in at 7.30pm and if you can't make that time, or you miss the show, check out "Sunday's" Ondemand site.

Drop in any feedback on the show that you'd like to share to the comments section on our blog and - catch you on "Sunday"!

Damaged trees

Trees on the shore of Nukutoa damaged by the waves.

Men's dance

Many of the younger men doing a stick dance at the concert on the school grounds. In this photo Satty and George can be seen dancing with several schoolteachers and other village men.

The Graduates of 2008

8th grade graduates of Mortlock School stand on the undamaged basketball court the day before the big waves came.

Damage to the school library

This was the school libary. All the schoolbooks were ruined by the waves.

Concert day in brief with curious weather effects

Its been a big day and I'm tired so I'll try not to make this too long.

It started, sort of, when Satty woke Scott and I to look at the big waves surging past the island. It was supposed to be a low tide with a half moon but the water level looked like a high tide and every seven minutes a huge sheet of water came racing towards the island with a hissing roar from the north west to crash against the northern shore. It was kind of impressive. If this had been a full high tide these sheets of water would be racing across the school playground. We figure these surges must be long period waves generated by a far off storm or cyclone (can anyone out there find a graphic of the weather map for the 7th and 8th of December 2008 that we can post on this blog?)

The rest of the day started at dawn. We started shooting at 6am with Endar to get some work done before the big concert. Scott, Lyn and John were roped into the event as dignitaries to give out prizes to the school children. Dr Scott Smithers had an extra job (he must be more dignified) he had to give a speech through a megaphone and tie the teachers ties.

Then there was a big lunch followed by the concert bit. Twenty nine acts. Traditional dance and church singing. It finally finished at dusk. It was a great day that we totally enjoyed.

-Jeffrey

P.S. Tomorrow we are going to Takuu to film some more taro pit action. Judging by the vicious state of the mosquitos at Petasi this afternoon the little winged creatures on Takuu promise to be truly unbelievable. Also, in case you were wondering if we plan to come back, our departure time on the Barbarian is set for midday on Sunday.

Too far away to get evacuation warnings (and too far away to be evacuated)

Its been an interesting couple of days here on Nukutoa. Yesterday the strange wave patterns that we have been noticing all week began hitting us with full effect as tides have become higher. Large sections of the island have been flooded and the shore has been eroded as waves have broken across the seawalls of the eastern shores.

This morning Scott and John held a meeting presenting their research so far to the islanders. Soon afterward everyone left to prepare fortoday's tide at 1pm. The news we had managed to glean via the radio was that low lying parts of northern PNG had been evacuated and that Manus and Kavieng had been hit hard by large waves. In Wewak water had reached the airport runway.

Here in Takuu we are too far away to get evacuation warnings (and too far away to be evacuated). People here can only guess at what must be going on. We suspect a huge storm north of here, perhaps around Guam, is generating huge ocean swells; swells with long period waves that carry them over the shallow water of the reef and still hold enough energy topenetrate the island.

As the tide rose so did the waves. Near Petasi (which is close to the edge of the reef) the water sometimes reached our knees. We had to be careful that the camera wouldn't get swept away with the rest of the debris hitting us as we filmed shots in the waves.

Over half the island has been flooded with most of the damage in the eastern parts. The school has been heavily hit with the schoolteachers house, the library and the elementary classrooms sustaining major damage. Schoolbooks are ruined, boats and water tanks float on the basketball court.

Only a few days ago the dance concert was held in the school grounds, now the grounds are a mess of coconuts and rubbish floating in the saltwater. The wavespenetrated into the middle of the island ruining houses and flowing into the wells.

All along the northern shore, houses sit without their walls, pools of water lie in the interiors upon which float the remains of household effects. Coconut trees have fallen and coral rocks have been thrown up on the land. There has been great damage to the sandy points upon which the canoes are kept. Several fishing canoes now have holes and lie tipped upon their sides.

All is calm tonight. The tide is low and the waves cannot get over the reef. Tomorrows tides are higher and on Friday to Sunday will be even higher still. We sent a press release to the NZ herald and John has talked to the Sydney Morning Herald so watch out for some articles.

-Jeffrey

When you are here, you get the privilege of being part of the family too...

Over the last two years when I have thought of Takuu - the isolated atoll I lived on for two months in 2006 – 2007 - I have remembered a pace of life that moves in time with the tides and the rising and setting of the sun. One that is structured around community and people and less around money, property and careers. People are incredibly hospitable and there is a general feeling of openness and acceptance by the whole community. It is this feeling that makes staying on Takuu so special and what resonates with me most as I return.

In particular is the way families operate and the roles each will take in caring and looking after each other. When I was here before, Avo the chief of the island and the father to Sini whose family is looking after us, had two legs and appeared fairly fit and healthy. Last year his foot became infected after he accidentally stepped on a fish bone. Because Avo has diabetes the infection grew, until a few months ago his foot had to be amputated. At the same time Avo's wife Samoa had a stroke, becoming unable to talk or walk. Now both are disabled and they rely a lot on their extended family to help them. It's impressive to see how easily this happens. A special chair has been made for Samoa, which has handles on either end so that the ladies can carry her to the water to wash and toilet, while Avo is pushed around by his grandchildren in his wheel chair. If this couple had lived in New Zealand they might have easily ended up in an old person's home. Here they are constantly around their family, and if it is not Sini, or Sio their daughter or son-in-law who help them, it is the cousins, nephews, aunties and uncles. In additon to these changes, Avo's daughter Jane has had a baby. The father is not on the island so it is the extended family who are taking part in the raising of the child. The baby is always in some body's arms, being admired, talked to or played with. And Sio, the father of the house, seems to be making a special effort to be the father figure in the baby's life.

I am sure families operate like this all around the world, and as much as possible they will try to help each other. I guess the main difference here is that there is no traveling time, or distance between people, making it much easier to be together. In fact, you could say the whole island is an extended family. Lyn tried to do a family tree of our three characters and she found that they were all related twice to each other on both sides of the family.

When you are here, you get the privilege of being part of the family too. One lady, after a few glasses of kareve (coconut beer) told me I was her booboo (grand child), giving me a visongi (hongi – rubbing of noses). That definitely felt like some sort of initiation into the island life

When bitten by a crab - bite back.

The last few days have been difficult as far as making films on small atolls goes. Our subjects have often been unavailable due to the ongoing funeral ceremonies and we have had equipment trouble as well. All on the same day we had problems with playback on the camera, a virus on our computers from a pen drive and our generator (which we use for topping up our power if its cloudy or we have put too big a load on the batteries) suddenly started jumping around with a clattering noise while white smoke poured from the alternator.

So work shifted to the Barbarian where a small office for Rose and George was set up to translate the video tapes while Briar and Rod shot the underwater sequences for the beginning and end of the film. For these sequences Briar roped in a young man called Dan and a canoe. The first days filming took place in the north west passage where the tides bring in clear water from the ocean. Here Rod filmed shots using the canoe. The second day involved filming diving shots off Queen Emma's Island (Kapeitu). I took the chance to go ashore with Endar and Barbarian's crew to take a look at the ruins of the old plantation house which was abandoned in the 1930's when the village moved to Nukutoa.

The concrete walls of the house and some kind of factory are slowly crumbling into the jungle in the interior of the island. Trees are growing on the walls and lumps of concrete cover the area where the floors once were. The roof and anything wooden have been eaten away long ago. The layout of the house is still there and you can easily see where the bay windows and the veranda once where.

After messing about looking at the house I went back out into the glaring sunlight of the beach where Endar taught me to catch crabs for bait. The method is this -
1. Find a crab hole in the beach.
2. Dig until you find a crab.
3. Grab your crab from behind.
4. Throw the crab with force upside down on the beach to stun and kill it.

My first crab went well but with my second I failed at step 3. I grabbed the frightened little animal from the front and it bit my finger hard with a pincer drawing blood. I then learned another trick. When bitten by a crab - bite back. Biting its pincer causes the shell to crack and the crab loses grip. Endar had the crabs for lunch. Barbarian's cook, Daisy, fried them with chilli.

Yesterday I went fishing. There was no filming going on to speak of (Briar did squeeze off a few shots though) so I went on a trip with Cio (whose family we stay with), Scott and Leonard (Barbarian's engineer) [Briar and Lyn weren't allowed to come, they are girls, they are unlucky and we couldn't even talk about it to them]. We zoomed out of the lagoon in an orange fiberglass canoe circling the small reefs on our way out to catch bait. We had dolphins surfing in our bow wave for a while and outside the lagoon huge whales could be seen in the distance rising and crashing back into the water.

The fishing technique was to zoom into flocks of seabirds feeding on the water while trailing as many fishing lines as possible. In this fashion we caught six large fish, two tuna and four rainbow runners. Most of these fish are destined for the big event - Monday's Dance Concert. A lot of the men are still out there tonight - fishing for the concert.

Today we were back to the usual routine. We filmed Satty and Endar this morning and sequences with the scientists in the afternoon.
-Jeffrey

Animals we have seen so far on this expedition:

-Centipede
-Huntsman spider
-Scorpion (in Briar and Lyn's house)
-Turtles
-Dolphins (in Buka Passage and surfing the bow wave of our canoe in Takuu lagoon)
-Frigate Birds (talo has one as a pet)
-Fairy Terns
-Blue Starfish
-Rats (in our house)
-Chickens
-Jellyfish
-Manta Rays
-Sharks
-Whales (breaching at sea about 4km from the reef)
-Mosquitos
-Noddy Terns
-Cats (only at night)
-Geese
-Corgis (in Buka)
-Pigs
-Black Skinks
-Geckos
-Clams
-Yellowfin Tuna
-Skipjack Tuna
-Rainbow Runner Fish
-Moray Eels
-Coconut Crabs (on Takuu)
-Hermit Crabs
-Termites
-Mushroom Coral
-Angel Fish
-Mosquito Fish
-Sea Cucumber
-Sea Urchin
-Ants (in our peanut butter)

Possibly to be continued....
-Jeffrey

This is how most days pan out for us here -

You may get the impression from reading this blog that all we do on the Mortlock Atoll is swan about looking at the sights and complaining about the toilet arrangements. The truth is in fact that most of our day is spent working.

This is how most days pan out for us here-

5am: We get up. Yes I know 5am sounds early but here on Nukutoa this is the time most people get up. At this time the sun is up, the roosters have left our roof and things are happening. The girls disappear for their morning kaukau (strangely the word for wash is the same as the word for kumera - go figure!), and we boys take the long walk to Patasi.

6am - 7am: Breakfast. Time for some Hardman cabin bread biscuits (Hi-Way Hardman. Strongpela Bisket!) with peanut butter (we bought 5 jars of peanut butter but no jam) and a cup of Milo. The crew of the Barbarian usually turn up with blocks of ice for our water cooler.

After this the scientists disappear for some morning science (measuring stuff, surveying and cutting up coral mostly - they have a lot to do on the low tide) and we filmmakers try to locate the people we are filming and prepare the equipment.
8 or 9am to 11am: We film a scene. I hold a microphone while trying not to let any equipment die in the heat / wet. Briar fusses over the camera and Lyn checks the shots / questions against the script. Meanwhile Rose and whoever else we can rope in work on translating the tapes from previous days shooting.

11am to 12:30pm: The hot part of the day begins. The light becomes harsh and full of contrasts while the equipment is in danger of overheating in the full sun. We try not to do any filming. Lyn and Briar start planning the next days shooting while rewriting the script against what we have just shot. I usually fiddle around with the batteries at this time trying to squeeze as much power out of the sun as possible before the equipment sucks it all up again.

12:30 pm: Lunch. Usually rice, instant noodles and fish or corned beef stew. All our meals here are made for us by our host family. We don't have to cook a thing, also they do our laundry! The scientists have turned up again by now and are working on their notes while adding up sums on a calculator.

1pm to 2:30pm. Back to planning / adding up sums. Its still too hot to shoot. Today at this time a big rainstorm broke over the islands. We ran around in the rain with buckets trying to catch as much of it as possible to refill the tanks. Fresh water is precious here. Some laundry water can be drawn from wells in the middle of the island but most washing and drinking water comes from the sky. As most houses are thatched only a few can catch rain.

2:30pm. The second shoot of the day. We go and interview someone or follow them around with the camera to see how much they can put up with.

5 - 5:30 pm: Sunset begins. Time to grab those atmospheric shots before it all disappears for the day.

6pm. It's dark. Time to write blogs, fiddle with the script and wind things down. The chickens are back on the roof and are falling asleep. We may try to wash ourselves using a couple of cups of fresh water.

7pm. Dinner time. The menu varies. Often a slight variation on the lunch menu. Sometimes it can be an incredible feast of local dishes. Today Endar cooked for us and there is a kind of kaukau flat cake / pudding as well as roast chicken (chicken doesn't turn up often on the menu). We don't forget to take our malaria tablets.

8pm. We try to send and receive emails while cursing the gods of the satellite phone. It often takes several tries to hook up and then sometimes throws us off the network. The signal strength comes and goes and we constantly play with the aerial trying to make it better.

After this we go to bed. Nicely tucked up under our mosquito nets until the roosters begin again.

Oops! Dinner time - better go.
-Jeffrey

The special dangers of Petasi.

A decision to travel to Petasi is never taken lightly. This little island is full of hidden (and not so hidden dangers) that include pandanus grass (which has sharp serrated edges to the leaves with little thorns that must be pulled out of the skin with tweezers), sharp coral rocks and piles of excrement. Petasi is the little island connected to the eastern tip of Nukutoa and when walking can be smelt before it is seen.

Petasi is often called Pootasi or Poo Island in our camp. It serves as the mens toilet. Briar has earlier described the special details and dangers of the women's toilet in the sea at the northern tip of the island and I have to admit that perhaps they have it worse, they have to get wet each time they go, but the men's isn't easy either. Finding a fresh area on the sharp coral where you won't get pandanus thorns in your backside can be a challenge on some mornings. Luckily our diet of fish, rice and kaukau results in less journeys to Petasi.

PS You may wonder what they use as toilet paper here. Scott has just discovered it is coconut fiber.

-Jeffrey