Panama prepares to evacuate first island in face of rising sea levels (2024)

On a tiny island off Panama’s Caribbean coast, about 300 families are packing their belongings in preparation for a dramatic change. Generations of Gunas who have grown up on Gardi Sugdub in a life dedicated to the sea and tourism will trade that next week for the mainland’s solid ground.

They go voluntarily — sort of.

The Gunas of Gardi Sugdub are the first of 63 communities along Panama’s Caribbean and Pacific coasts that government officials and scientists expect to be forced to relocate by rising sea levels in the coming decades.

Panama prepares to evacuate first island in face of rising sea levels (1)

On a recent day, the island’s Indigenous residents rowed or sputtered off with outboard motors to fish. Children, some in uniforms and others in the colorful local textiles called “molas,” chattered as they hustled through the warren of narrow dirt streets on their way to school.

“We’re a little sad, because we’re going to leave behind the homes we’ve known all our lives, the relationship with the sea, where we fish, where we bathe and where the tourists come, but the sea is sinking the island little by little,” said Nadín Morales, 24, who prepared to move with her mother, uncle and boyfriend.

An official with Panama’s ministry of housing said that some people have decided to stay on the island until it’s no longer safe, without revealing a specific number. Authorities won’t force them to leave, the official said on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue.

Gardi Sugdub is one of about 50 populated islands in the archipelago of the Guna Yala territory. It is only about 400 yards long and 150 yards wide. From above, it’s roughly a prickly oval surrounded by dozens of short docks where residents tie up their boats.

Every year, especially when the strong winds whip up the sea in November and December, water fills the streets and enters the homes. Climate change isn’t only leading to a rise in sea levels, but it’s also warming oceans and thereby powering stronger storms.

The Gunas have tried to reinforce the island’s edge with rocks, pilings and coral, but seawater keeps coming.

“Lately, I’ve seen that climate change has had a major impact,” Morales said. “Now the tide comes to a level it didn’t before, and the heat is unbearable.”

The Guna’s autonomous government decided two decades ago that they needed to think about leaving the island, but at that time it was because the island was getting too crowded. The effects of climate change accelerated that thinking, said Evelio López, a 61-year-old teacher on the island.

He plans to move with relatives to the new site on the mainland that the government developed at a cost of $12 million. The concrete houses sit on a grid of paved streets carved out of the lush tropical jungle just over a mile from the port, where an eight-minute boat ride carries them to Gardi Sugdub.

Leaving the island is “a great challenge, because more than 200 years of our culture is from the sea, so leaving this island means a lot of things,” López said. “Leaving the sea, the economic activities that we have there on the island, and now we’re going to be on solid ground, in the forest. We’re going to see what the result is in the long run.”

Steven Paton, director of the Smithsonian Institution’s physical monitoring program in Panama, said that the upcoming move “is a direct consequence of climate change through the increase in sea level.”

“The islands on average are only a half-meter above sea level, and as that level rises, sooner or later the Gunas are going to have to abandon all of the islands almost surely by the end of the century or earlier.”

“All of the world’s coasts are being affected by this at different speeds,” Paton said.

Residents of a small coastal community in Mexico moved inlandlast year after storms continued to take away their homes. Governments are being forced to take action, from the Italian lagoon cityof Venice to the coastal communities of New Zealand.

A recent study by Panama’s Environmental Ministry’s Climate Change directorate, with support from universities in Panama and Spain, estimated that by 2050, Panama would lose about 2.01% of its coastal territory to increases in sea levels.

Panama estimates that it will cost about $1.2 billion to relocate the 38,000 or so inhabitants who will face rising sea levels in the short- and medium-term, said Ligia Castro, climate change director for the Environmental Ministry.

On Gardi Sugdub, women who make the elaborately embroidered molas worn by Guna women hang them outside their homes when finished, trying to catch the eye of visiting tourists.

The island and others along the coast have benefitted for years from year-round tourism.

Braucilio de la Ossa, the deputy secretary of Carti, the port facing Gardi Sugdub, said that he planned to move with his wife, daughter, sister-in-law and mother-in-law. Some of his wife’s relatives will stay on the island.

He said the biggest challenge for those moving would be the lifestyle change of moving from the sea inland even though the distance is relatively small.

“Now that they will be in the forest their way of living will be different,” he said.

Associated Press

Panama prepares to evacuate first island in face of rising sea levels (2024)

FAQs

Panama prepares to evacuate first island in face of rising sea levels? ›

The Gunas of Gardi Sugdub are the first of 63 communities along Panama's Caribbean and Pacific coasts that government officials and scientists expect to be forced to relocate by rising sea levels in the coming decades.

Is Panama evacuating an island? ›

ISBERYALA, Panama (AP) — Hammocks began appearing this week in the doorways of 300 new houses built in what was previously a yucca field along Panama's Caribbean coast for families from the country's first low-lying island evacuated due to rising sea levels.

Which island will sink first due to climate change? ›

This is Kiribati. The first country that will be swallowed up by the sea as a result of climate change. Global warming is melting the polar icecaps, glaciers and the ice sheets that cover Greenland, causing sea levels to rise.

Which island nations are at risk of entirely disappearing as a result of sea level rise? ›

Climate change is a major issue for the Maldives. As an archipelago of low-lying islands and atolls in the Indian Ocean, the existence of the Maldives is severely threatened by sea level rise. By 2050, 80% of the country could become uninhabitable due to global warming.

What island is threatened by rising sea levels? ›

About a million people live in coral atolls like those in the Maldives, Tuvalu, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands. These islands are just a few feet in elevation, making them some of the places most at-risk from the rising seas that will result from climate change.

Is it safe to travel in Panama now? ›

Danger level: 5 - Do not travel. This is the general advisory usually covering the country as a whole.

Is Panama under sea level? ›

The islands on average are only a half-meter above sea level, and as that level rises, sooner or later the Gunas are going to have to abandon all of the islands almost surely by the end of the century or earlier.”

What country will sink first? ›

With an altitude of only three meters high, the water rises at a rate of 1.2 centimeters a year (four times faster than the global average), which makes Kiribati the most likely country to disappear due to rising sea levels in the forthcoming years.

Which country will sink in 2050? ›

According to the World Economic Forum, much of Jakarta could be underwater by 2050. In fact, Jakarta's situation is so dire that it is being replaced as Indonesia's capital by Nusantara, a soon-to-be built city on the east coast of Borneo, around 1,200 miles (2,000 km) from Jakarta.

What will be underwater by 2030? ›

1. Miami, USA. Miami, known for its sun-kissed beaches and vibrant culture, is already feeling the impacts of rising sea levels. With its low elevation and susceptibility to powerful storms, the city could find itself submerged by 2030.

What island is lost to rising sea levels? ›

In the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, Tuvalu's sinking shores stand as a haunting testament to the immediate and irreversible impacts of climate change. As this tiny island nation grapples with the encroaching sea, its plight becomes a symbol of the urgent global crisis that demands our attention.

What island is at risk of disappearing? ›

The Kiribati Islands, a group of low-lying coral atolls in the Pacific Ocean, are at risk of disappearing due to rising sea levels. The islands, which are home to over 100,000 people, are already experiencing flooding and saltwater intrusion, making it difficult to grow crops and access clean water.

Who is affected by rising sea levels? ›

China, Bangladesh, India, Egypt, the Netherlands, the United States, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific islands such as Tonga and Fiji are among the countries most at risk as sea levels rise, according to data content site Visual Capitalist.

What is the water situation in Panama? ›

Panama is currently suffering a prolonged drought that began in early 2023 and has not let up. In October, rainfall was 43% lower than average levels, making it the driest October since the 1950s. For the area around the canal, 2023 was one of the driest two years since record keeping began in the country.

Is Panama on an island? ›

Panama is a country located in Caribbean, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, between Colombia and Costa Rica. Panama is located on the narrow and low Isthmus of Panama.

Is Panama out of the hurricane belt? ›

We are just south of the hurricane belt so while we get some ESPECTACULAR storms, we don't get hurricanes so go ahead, add Panama to that list of beautiful, romantic, and just plain incredible places to visit any time of year.

Has the Panama Canal ever been shut down? ›

The opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 caused a severe drop in traffic along Chilean ports due to shifts in maritime trade routes, despite the closure of the canal for nearly seven months after a landslide in the Culebra Cut on September 18, 1915.

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