HGI Land Portion #230
History of the Higher Ground Initiative The Higher Ground Initiative (HGI) is a generational undertaking by the Republic of Nauru. As the key climate response strategy of the island nation, it is urgent in response, comprehensive in scope, integrative in approach, and transformational in objective. Through this planned managed migration of the population of Nauru to the higher elevations of the island, the country has the opportunity not only to adapt to the threat of sea level rise, but to mitigate its contribution to the ever-growing global climate crisis while improving its national security, economic vitality, social equity, and cultural preservation in the process. With the implementation of this ambitious initiative to create safe, healthy, and thriving communities, Nauru will be able to secure its long-term sovereignty in the face of these local and global crises. The initiative was announced in 2019 by the President and Cabinet as “a managed retreat to higher ground” over the next 50 years, with a mandate to rehabilitate and develop Topside, the upper elevations of the island of Nauru. In response, the HGI Steering Committee, which includes most Heads of Departments, sought to update the 1994 Master Land Use Plan for Nauru and commenced a feasibility study. In 2021, the Steering Committee launched a RONPHOS/ NRC Joint Collaboration Project for Crown Land at Land Portion 230, identifying the 10 hectare cornerstone development opportunity on Government owned land that could serve as the initial phase of implementation response to the HGI mandate. Along with this key strategic determination, the HGI Political Narrative was subsequently adopted by the Cabinet, securing a comprehensive vision for HGI.
Image credit: Cedric Favero, CC BY-SA 2.0 _https-__creativecommons.org_ licenses_by-sa_2.0_, via Wikimedia Commons
Image credit: DFAT photo library
METROCOLOGY
SECTION 1.0
REPUBLIC OF NAURU
P.12