Donna Laframboise:
Do the concerns of 70,000 people outweigh the interests of 7 billion?
Enoko Island beach, Marshall Islands
photo courtesy of Wikimedia (click)Yesterday the Washington Post published an opinion piece by Phillip Muller, the foreign minister of the Marshall Islands. It was titled Pacific islands’ deadly threat from climate change, and includes this sentence:
The only answer is urgent global action, a Marshall Plan for a new low-carbon global economy.
The Marshall Islands are a nation of 70,000 people scattered over dozens of islands. This is a country scarce in natural resources. A bit of income is earned from fishing and harvesting coconuts. But less than 12% of its land is classified as “arable,” potable water is in short supply, and the main source of funds is the United States. This comes in two forms – compensation for post World War II-era nuclear testing, and rent for a military base.
As the World Factbook explains:
US assistance and lease payments for the use of Kwajalein Atoll as a US military base are the mainstay of this small island country. The Marshall Islands received roughly $1 billion in aidfrom the US during 1986-2001 under the original Compact of Free Association (Compact). In 2002 and 2003, the US and the Marshall Islands renegotiated the Compact’s financial package for a 20-year period, from 2004 to 2024. Under the amended Compact, the Marshall Islands will receive roughly $1.5 billion in direct US assistance. Agricultural production, primarily subsistence, is concentrated on small farms; the most important commercial crops are coconuts and breadfruit. Industry is limited to handicrafts, tuna processing, and copra. Tourism holds some potential. The islands and atolls have few natural resources, and imports exceed exports. [bold added]
In other words, the Marshall Islands has no economy worth talking about. It doesn’t stand on its own two feet today – and is unlikely to do so anytime soon. It is admittedly a place of great natural beauty, but so is the Sahara Desert.
According to Muller, his country is a “paradise” at risk from “rising tides [that] come closer every day.” To save that paradise, he thinks there’s only one answer: The entire rest of the world should change how we live and work. The entire rest of the world should transform our own, currently functioning economies into low-carbon ones.
For the sake of a grand total of 70,000 people.
Free money from the USA and the people do little-to-nothing but procreate.
70,000 people is, quite obviously, too many for those isles.
Well over 1/3rd of their population is under 14….37%, in fact.
Over 70% live in ”cities,” so they are NOT farming or fishing.
Seriously, to continue cribbing the CIA World Fact Book entry that forms the basis of the NoFrakkingConsensus blog‘s story:
So, the only way they can guarantee themselves income without working is to STAY there.
Leaving has no such guarantee.
Staying and making more babies is their logical lifestyle because we have made it such!
My oldest son is from the Marshall Islands. Though I’ve never been, his first 6 years were there until I adopted him. He has some memories that he talks about from time to time, but what struck me most was how laisse faire his parents were about raising him and giving him and his sister up for adoption.
The stories I’ve been told are not heart warming. The experiences of teaching my son not to eat from the trash… or pee on the front yard… just reinforced the image. Life in the Marshall Islands is hard. And without the US assistance, would be much, much harder.
The entire Global Warming issue… bleh. Any sob story to push that agenda.. meh.
there is always some foreigners on the dole of the USA who ask always for more,
they get so much for such a long time, they get to think the USA owe it to them,
like KARSEI on his last speech demanding royalty on the AMERICAN MILITARY BASES,
and demand an eternal stay of the MILITARY after 2014 and for free,
damned are they and SHAME ON THEM.
Hopefully no else moves there. It would be a shame to see the island capsize. : )