Context of the Response: The Republic of Nauru

As one of the smallest and most geographically remote countries in the world, the Republic of Nauru is genuinely unique in circumstance, context, and current condition. The coral-capped island rising up to 65 meters above the sea level of the central Pacific Ocean is home to just over 10,000 people, an overwhelming majority descending from the indigenous Nauruan culture, with a language and history that is more than 3000 years old. For a century, mining of the phosphate that the interior of the island is so rich with has been a driver of the Nauru economy and in many ways, its way of life. Yet in recent years, the consequences of this reliance on mining have begun to reveal themselves in ways that are proving devastating both environmentally and financially.

The ecological limits of Nauru are narrow,1 on an island that comprises just 21 square kilometers, but they are not immutable. Likewise the economic situation for Nauru as a nation as well as for individual Nauruans is vulnerable, with limited marketable resources and physical isolation from foreign ports, along with largely-diminished mineral reserves and a diminished reliance on extractive foreign business investments. As a result, an objective central to the Higher Ground Initiative is the intention to adapt the limits that Nauru currently faces in ways that will empower the nation to provide for its own expanded national resiliency and strengthened national security, in this generation but especially in generations to come. An island-wide master planned strategy of integrated solutions toward climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction will secure an efficient and effective response to the challenges that Nauru faces and an inclusive and empowering future that will

1 Department of Finance and Sustainable Development. (2019). National Sustainable Development Strategy 2019-2030: Revised 2019. Republic of Nauru.

improve the lives of all Nauruans.

The mining of the large stores of phosphate, originally performed by foreign corporations and more recently by the Republic of Nauru Phosphate Corporation (RONPHOS), has exploited the interior of Nauru’s land and systematically depleted the upper elevations of the island, not only damaging much of the lush natural ecological resources but also degrading soil quality and land stability. Yet this limitation comes at a time where global climate change is predicted to cause significant harm. Situated just 40 kilometers south of the equator in the Pacific, Nauru is less susceptible to cyclones and tropical storms than other nations in the region, but nonetheless faces vulnerability to droughts that limit availability of potable water, and ocean acidification that undermines island food security and economic viability. With a sea level rise of as much as 14 centimeters by the year 2030 and as much as 60 centimeters by the year 2090 predicted in Nauru, 3 much of the existing urban settlement and fragile infrastructure that already-strained Nauruans need to depend on will be greatly impacted within a single generation.

As a result, climate change threatens the sovereignty of Nauru, as the sea will continue to further inundate the coastline 4 and force the displacement of both people and infrastructure currently in the low-lying coastal areas.5 But it is

2 Department of Commerce, Industry and Environment. (2015). Republic of Nauru Framework for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction. Republic of Nauru.

3 Australian Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO. (2011). Climate Change in the Pacific: Scientific Assessment and New Research. Volume 1: Regional Overview. Volume 2: Country Reports.

4 Allis, M et al. (2020). Coastal flooding from sea in Nauru: Stage 1 -- level rise static inundation mapping. National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Ltd (NIWA).

5 The World Bank Group. (2021). Climate Risk Country Profile: Nauru. The World Bank Group. https://climateknowledgeportal. worldbank.org/sites/default/files/country-profiles/15819-WB_ Nauru%20Country%20Profile-WEB.pdf not just ocean level rise that will impact Nauru; fluctuations in global weather patterns could lead to disturbances in local precipitation rates which impact the ability for Nauru to ensure its predominant source of adequate drinking water for its population, in addition to accommodating other agricultural and industrial demands that might be a part of more sustainable future economy, yet also introduce increased risk of severe flooding from significant rainfall events. Furthermore, as Nauru faces these climates impacts, so too do most other nation states, forcing global demand on a scarce supply of sustaining resources and the resulting conflicts that will necessarily come. As the smallest island nation, Nauru faces a unique vulnerability in its effort to compete for those resources.

Nauru has now come to a turning point, where the nation can no longer ignore the harms of a subsistence on environmental and economic depletion, and instead is choosing to embrace a restorative and regenerative future, one rooted in a new Pacific Island urbanism that both respects cultural legacy while expressing a vision for the future of the region. The future use of the remaining undeveloped land of the interior of Nauru is essential, in order to a secure and resilient future for the country. Failing to approach the complex challenges that Nauru faces in a comprehensive manner will surely result in the wasteful development of the most limited resource in Nauru: land. Conventional development schemes will render the island unable to support both population relocation and housing demands, as well as much-needed agriculture lands and environmental remediation.

An innovative and integrative vision for the future of the island is needed. As a participant6 in accordance with Article 4, Paragraph 12 of the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),7 Nauru is committed to contributing to the global response to the limitation of global warming by reduction of greenhouse gas emission and adaptation to the effects of the warming planet. Reflecting this urgent and important obligation, this reporting offers a Vision for a Secure and Resilient Future for the Republic of Nauru: a master plan for the sustainability of the nation that explores, confirms, and documents a visionary approach to the mandate of the Higher Ground Initiative (HGI), which guides rather than dictates a solid path into an uncertain future.

6 Republic of Nauru. (2021). Updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC): Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Republic of Nauru.

7 Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, T.I.A.S. No. 16-1104, Dec. 12, 2015, https:// unfccc.int/sites/default/files/english_paris_agreement.pdf.