Climate change is real. We&rsquove read of so many reports where rising seas and erosion have consumed small islands. In fact, when five tiny islands, a part of the Soloman Islands, disappeared in 2016, Australian researchers said it was the &lsquofirst scientific confirmation of the impact of climate change on coastlines in the Pacific&rsquo.
The island nation of Maldives has been looking to buy land elsewhere. The highest land point is only about 2.4m above sea level, so with islands disappearing, the government has been in talks to shift the population to higher ground, in the eventuality of a calamity.
Last year, a tiny island in Japan, Esanbe Hanakita Kojima, reportedly disappeared under water. According to reports, residents of a nearby island found it missing in October 2018. The island was uninhabited and located north of Hokkaido.
The Japanese government, in 2014, named all of their islands in an effort to clarify its territorial reach and extend its economic zone. The absence of the island was first noticed by author Hiroshi Shimizu who was writing a book on Japanese Islands. The island got its name in 2014.
Even though the disappearance of land is not new in Japan, the loss of the island has raised alarm. According to a media group, Asahi Shimbun, losing one of the islands could have a major impact on security and trade in international waters. It has also been mentioned that the island was part of the Japan-Russia dispute. Many small islands had been seized by the Soviet Union after the Pacific War and even today, Russia believes the islands are part of their territory.
Did you also know that East Island, a tiny island in the US, was wiped off the map after Hurricane Walaka
