Campaigning for Climigrants

Interview with Robin Bronen from Fairbanks, Alaska

We met with Robin Bronen during her stopover in Munich. For years now, the US Human Rights attorney has been campaigning for the Inuit of Alaska, who are being forced to migrate because of climate change.

Robin, you have been working for many years now with the Yup’ik Eskimos in Alaska. Many people there are being forced to leave their homes due to climate warming. Do you have any news from the region?
 
Robin Bronen: 
Yes I do; both good and bad news. The weather has been completely freakish this year again. First of all sleet brought Anchorage to a complete standstill, and then there were record snowfalls. November 2010 had the highest precipitation since meteorological recording began in 1917. The Polar ice cap has shrunk even further; in 2010 it reached its third lowest level within the last 30 years. North of the Arctic Circle, the carcasses of 100 walruses were discovered on the shore. The indigenous people are certain that climate change is at the bottom of all this. On the other hand, the people of the Newtok community are now being relocated. At last something is happening.
 
And what is happening exactly?
 
Robin Bronen:
The new infrastructure is just beginning to take shape. This summer the authorities have built a landing stage for boats and they are presently building houses for the climigrants. It took a while, but things are at last starting to move forward.
 
Does this mean you can now lean back and relax?
 
Robin Bronen:
Far from it. Tomorrow I’m flying to the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea. Climate change is forcing the island peoples to migrate as well. The sea level is rising distinctly and flooding has increased. In the coming  years, 1,700 people are to be relocated to the neighbouring island of Bougainville. Not only will they lose house and home, but also their native soil. From this point of view, the Arctic and the South Pacific are closely related. They are both the most vulnerable communities threatened by global warming.