Transport – Small Island Developing States
These images can be used to accompany articles reporting on What’s in it for Small Island Developing States. See full terms and conditions here.
Sea level rise poses one of the most widely recognised climate change threats to low-lying coastal areas, particularly in small islands where the majority of human communities and infrastructure is located in coastal zones and with limited island relocation opportunities, especially on atoll islands.
The majority of settlement, infrastructure and development are located on lowlands along the coastal fringe of small islands. In the case of atoll islands, all development and settlement is essentially coastal. It follows then that populations, infrastructure, agricultural areas and fresh groundwater supplies are all vulnerable to extreme tides, wave and surge events and sea level rise.
