Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz
By TJ Aumua in Daku, Fiji Islands
Rising sea levels are a major threat to coastal villages in the Pacific.
Daku village in the Rewa delta area in Tailevu, Fiji, is one village that faces the challenge every day.
Biu Naitasi, Daku’s headman, says that despite the village receiving a floodgate funded by USAid to help drain water, the sea level is still rising and the strength of waves is increasing.
Naitasi told Asia Pacific Report that sea water flooding in their village can reach up to their ankles, forcing some children in the village to relocate to another school.
The salt water has damaged their food plantations and eroded the wooden and concrete support beams on their homes.
While they wait for another floodgate to stop seawater flowing into their crops, they continue to be proactive, using people power to build higher seawalls and filling the flooded land with soil.
- Thanks to the people of Daku village and the University of the South Pacific’s Pacific Centre for the Environment and Sustainable Development (PaCE-SD), USAid and the Pacific Community in Fiji for support in making this video.
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