Save our islands: Meet the Torres Strait Islanders refusing to become climate refugees
Rising sea levels threaten Maria Turpin’s home but the proud Torres Strait Islander says communities must band together now to fight the climate crisis lapping at their doorsteps.
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Rising sea levels threaten Maria Turpin’s home but the proud Torres Strait Islander says communities must band together now to fight the climate crisis lapping at their doorsteps.
Nestled between Cape York Peninsula and the southern coast of Papua New Guinea, the region’s low-lying islands like Boigu and Saibai along with Masig, Poruma, Warraber and Yam already face the risk of one day being lost to the ocean.
In 2018, more than a dozen Yam Islanders were left homeless after a sea wall built to protect them collapsed, while flooding elsewhere has led to roads, buildings and cemeteries being washed away.
Ms Turpin, who grew up on the eastern island of Mer, said that projections of sea levels increasing by more than 75 centimetres over the next century meant that the time for action was now.
“Just thinking about it gets me emotional,” the mother-of-seven said. “Our grandfather has been flying out a lot from the island recently and he’s seen a massive environmental change.
“There are higher sea levels, we’ve got more erosion happening and we’ve noticing our rock walls are falling apart.
“The barriers are breaking the shoreline and taking away the sand from our beaches. It’s why we need to do something.”
Nearby reefs, which play a key role in sustaining the islands’ roughly 4,000 inhabitants, had suffered from coral bleaching and warming sea temperatures, Ms Turpin said.
“It’s on the brink at the moment,” she said. “We need to bring it back because it’s our livelihood. We have to start restoring and rejuvenating our sea country.”
The Meriam Ira Per Tribal Governing Council representative started negotiations with the Treaty Council Worldwide and Korean-based artificial reef developers HaejooX more than two years ago seeking solutions.
The bold plan to build more than 200km of man-made structures throughout the Torres Strait to sustain coral and marine life across the next eight years was vital to the communities’ future.
“To see what HaejooX and others have been doing over in Dubai and other countries is really encouraging,” Ms Turpin said.
“Seeing that reef forestry made us think, ‘Why don’t we give this a go and see where it goes from there’.
“We’ve got to try something because right now nothing else is working. What HaejooX is presenting is astonishing and I’m really excited to work with them.”
Watching the islands’ ancestral lands rapidly vanish before them was hardest for the community’s oldest residents, Ms Turpin said.
“If the sea rise level keeps going they want to relocate our families but they don’t want to leave,” she said.
“They want to be on the island. That’s where we were born and raised. That’s all we know.
“We’re seeing water levels coming up to the houses, so we need something.
Ms Turpin said her youngest son, Jack, five, was also an inspiration.
“He’s my next generation,” she said. “My children are the next in line to lead the way. It’s all about them continuing the journey for our elders.”
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Originally published as Save our islands: Meet the Torres Strait Islanders refusing to become climate refugees
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