By Kenneth Watson, Ottawa Citizen Letter to the Editor, December 23, 2016
Climate change is the least of Kiribati’s problems
Re: Migration with Dignity, Dec. 17.
I found the article on Kiribati interesting. However, permit me to add a few details in the spirit of helping understand these issues. First, most of Kiribati’s GDP is mainly government revenue from tuna fishing licences to Japanese and American fleets; and over-fishing may destroy the economy long before climate change has any impact.
The worst pollution in Tarawa is the fine sandy dust thrown up by cars on the sole road, and lung disease is endemic. These flat islands are ideal for bicycles but people who can afford them love cars. The Chinese have just constructed a new road but the drainage was dropped from the project because the road went over budget, so it will likely be heavily damaged (and dusty) after one or two cyclone seasons.
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/letters/todays-letters-climate-change-language-aleppo