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  • Hello.

  • This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.

  • I’m Sam.

  • And I’m Rob.

  • What do Britain, Greenland, Australia, Hawaii, and Cuba

  • all have in common, Rob?

  • Are you planning your summer holidays, Sam?

  • Or is it that theyre all islands?

  • Right, Rob, they are all islands, but that’s about

  • all they have in common.

  • There’s as much variety in the world’s islands as

  • in the people who live there!

  • In tourist holiday magazines, Pacific islands like Fiji,

  • Tonga and Tahiti look like paradise,

  • with tropical rainforests, white, sandy beaches

  • and turquoise blue sea.

  • But in reality, life is far from paradise

  • for these island communities.

  • In 2022, the island of Tonga suffered a tsunami - a huge

  • wave caused by an earthquake that flowed inland,

  • killing people and causing largescale damage.

  • The destruction was terrible and added to the continuing

  • crisis of rising sea levels threatening the island’s survival.

  • In this programme well be hearing some

  • Pacific islander voices and, as usual,

  • learning some new vocabulary too.

  • But first I have a question for you, Rob.

  • We already named some islands,

  • large and small, but how much of the world’s

  • population, do you think, lives on an island?

  • a) 11 percent b) 15 percent

  • c) 20 percent

  • Ooh, that’s a tricky question!

  • It can’t be that many, so I’ll guess a) 11 percent.

  • OK, Rob.

  • I’ll reveal the correct answer at the end

  • of the programme.

  • The South Pacific is home to thousands

  • of low-lying islands dotted across miles of Pacific Ocean.

  • With rising sea levels, it’s predicted that many

  • of these islands will simply disappear in coming years.

  • And if that wasn’t bad enough, the effects of climate change

  • are making life difficult for these island communities

  • right now.

  • The tsunami that hit Tonga left the main island,

  • Tonga Tarpu, in ruins.

  • One of those leading the clean-up was Ofa Ma'asi Kaisamy

  • manager of the Pacific Climate Change Centre.

  • She told BBC World Service programme Business Daily

  • the extent of the problem.

  • Ofa Ma'asi Kaisamy The projected impacts of

  • climate change on agriculture and fisheries will undermine

  • food production systems in the Pacific.

  • Our Pacific people are also dependent on crops,

  • livestock, agriculture, fisheries, handicrafts for food security

  • and income, and these sectors are also highly vulnerable to the

  • impacts of climate change.

  • The economy of many islands like Tonga depends on tourism, farming or

  • fishing, and on handicrafts skilfully making traditional

  • objects like jewellery, textiles or pottery by hand.

  • These are usually sold to tourists, but when tsunamis

  • keep the tourists away, local jobs become vulnerable

  • unprotected and open to damage.

  • This affects not only handicrafts, but Tonga’s ability to produce

  • enough food to feed its population, something known

  • as food security.

  • As the effects of climate change hit the local economy,

  • young people are leaving Tonga to find work elsewhere.

  • Tonga Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship is a project

  • working with local organisations to help young people start businesses

  • and find jobs.

  • Here’s project director Lusia Latu-Jones

  • speaking with BBC World Service’s Business Daily:

  • It can be emotional, very emotional and heartbreaking

  • to see what’s happening in our island

  • But it’s even harder when you see young people coming through

  • just looking, looking for chance to help their families,

  • for them to get on their feet again.

  • So the question we ask ourselves as an organisation

  • is how can we address these challenges to better support

  • our people so that they can get back on their feet, feed their families.

  • We can hear the emotion in Lusia’s voice when she describes

  • the situation facing young Tongans as heartbreakingcausing strong

  • feelings of sadness.

  • She says her role is to help people get back

  • on their feet, an idiom which means be able to function

  • again after having difficulties in life.

  • The many problems Tongans face are made worse by perhaps

  • the biggest problem of all - the fact that poverty,

  • hunger and the loss of their traditional culture

  • is being caused by the carbon emissions of larger

  • countries halfway around the world.

  • If we all learned to adapt our lifestyle, just as Pacific islanders have done,

  • it may not yet be too late to change the fate

  • of their island paradise.

  • And the fate of the millions living on other islands too,

  • which reminds me of my question, Rob!

  • Eleven percent of us are islanders,

  • which works out as over 730 million people.

  • OK, let’s recap the vocabulary from this programme starting with

  • tsunami – a very large wave that flows inland

  • causing death and destruction.

  • Many islanders produce handicrafts - handmade traditional

  • objects like jewellery, textiles and pottery.

  • Someone who is vulnerable is weak or unprotected.

  • The phrase food security refers to a country’s

  • ability to produce enough food to feed its population.

  • When something is heartbreaking,

  • it makes you feel very sad.

  • And finally, to get back on your feet

  • means to be okay again after having difficulties in life.

  • Once again our six minutes are up!

  • Goodbye for now.

  • Bye!

Hello.

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