13 images Created 9 Jul 2021
Kiribati
Kiribati is perhaps the country most vulnerable to rising sea levels. Located in Micronesia, its 90,000 people are scattered across 33 atolls that rarely extend more than six feet above the high tide line. Current predictions are that sea level will rise over three feet by the end of this century and salinate the country’s freshwater table, making the entire nation uninhabitable. I spent four weeks there for GEO magazine, traveling between remote archipelagos by sailboat. On the outer islands there is almost no modern infrastructure, with most people fishing by outrigger canoe and living in thatch homes.
