Fiji islanders brave rising seas to protect their ‘US$100 million views’
Serua is sinking due to global warming, but most residents prefer to strengthen the island’s defences than abandon their ancestral home
The island looks like a utopia from the mainland, two steep palm-covered knolls sandwiching its low-lying centre, flanked by coral reefs and rich fishing grounds. But it is on the island itself that the risk from rising seas becomes clearer, with a concrete sea wall providing the only defence against waves that are already swamping homes.
“The stronger the air pressure, the higher the waves. So the waves wash through inside the village,” Serua Island resident Avenai Ranuku said.
