Abstract
Kiribati is one of the world’s most economically and physically vulnerable countries, consisting of 33 low lying coral atolls across 3.5 million km2 of the Pacific Ocean (refer Figure 1). Of its population of 110,000, approximately half live on the crowded capital island of South Tarawa. Tarawa’s land and people are increasingly impacted by sea level rise and the increasing frequency of storm surge inundation. Existing natural resilience is low with land levels generally less than 2m above mean sea level and with islets less than 500m in width. Population is rapidly growing, largely due to migration from the outer islands, placing increasing pressures on natural resources, infrastructure and essential services.
Map illustrating location of Kiribati and Tarawa
The Temaiku Land and Urban Development project has developed a sustainable solution to assist Kiribati in strengthening resilience against the effects of climate change. 300 hectares of low-lying land will be reclaimed and raised by approximately 2 to 5 metres to provide a resilient basis for future land and urban development. The Project is of national importance and has the potential to house over 35,000 people and provide a resilient governance hub to accommodate key government infrastructure.
The resilience of the proposed reclamation to the effects of climate change is largely dependent on the coastal resilience of the development. Coastal design considerations included the selection of finished surface levels to provide resilience against future inundation; a perimeter ‘no build’ Coastal Hazard Buffer Zone and a combination of phased soft and hard coastal defence solutions. An integrated planning, engineering and environmental approach was implemented throughout the development of the project to enable the design to be cognisant of, and address key social and environmental risks and opportunities.
This paper demonstrates how planning for climate change resilience has the potential to drive broader sustainable and resilient outcomes.
