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Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR
A langouste diver in front of Carti Cohabita. Residents of the island are scheduled to evacuate in August.
Photojournalist Kadir van Lohuizen traveled from the southern tip of South America to the far reaches of Alaska on the North American continent to explore migration in the Americas. What he found both supported and defied stereotypes, which he reported on a website and an app for iPad called Via Panam.
Thousands of Kuna — indigenous people living in an archipelago off the northern coast of Panama — are facing a drastic lifestyle change because of rising seas.
Kuna Yala, or Kuna Land, is comprised of 365 islands and a narrow, 250-mile-long strip of land on the Caribbean coast. Thirty-six of the islands are inhabited.
In August, the first round of evacuations will force some Kuna to the mainland because of dangerous living conditions, affecting 65 families. Ultimately, all of the islands will be evacuated — affecting 36,000 people — and new dwellings are being built and funded on the mainland by the Panamanian government.
Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR
This family has to evacuate to the mainland in August 2012.
The inhabited islands are chock full of houses built of reeds and palm leaves and no match for storms and rising water. Historically, flooding was comparatively rare, but residents now regularly contend with surging water.
Experts say sea levels rose nearly seven inches over the past century, and levels could rise another two feet by the end of this century.
The Kuna have lived on the Caribbean coast in autonomy for more than 80 years. Two centuries ago, most Kunas lived on the mainland, but they relocated to the islands following an epidemic. They make their living from fishing and farming. They grow manioc, pineapples and bananas in their small fields on the mainland, but their most lucrative crop is coconuts.
Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR
One of the Carti community's two political and spiritual leaders -- and his entourage -- visit the main land where the first 65 houses will be constructed.
The Kuna form a tight-knit community, have their own language, and are well-organized. Decisions are made collectively in the Onmaked Nega — the assembly hall. Meetings are presided over by a saila, a political and spiritual leader.
The coming evacuation was debated at the hall, and was eventually approved after long discussion. Many residents are still afraid of being tricked by the state. Because they have no financial resources to build new accommodations for themselves, they ultimately agreed to the evacuation plans.
Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR
Multiple generations of this family live together on one of the islands.
K. van Lohuizen / NOOR
From Colombians fleeing war to North Americans retirees moving to Nicaragua, a photographer's journey from Chile to Alaska explores both the expected and unexpected patterns of migration in the Americas
Across the water, on the mainland, lies a 4-year-old road — the only one in the vicinity. It used to be a 12-hour walk to reach the Pan American Highway, which connects to Panama City, the country's capital. Now it takes three hours.
As a result, many of the young Kuna have left for the capital city. Conversely many more consumer goods, like televisions and Coca-Cola, now reach Kuna Yala.
Experience the entire journey, from Chile to Alaska, by exploring the slideshow at right, the Via Panam website or by downloading the app for iPad.
More Photoblogs from the Migration in the Americas series:
Mom works in US while family stays in El Salvador
US retirees flock to Nicaragua
Bolivia hopes for windfall from producing lithium for batteries
Leave a Comment:
This article contains an error. The most lucrative crop for the Kuna is Columbian grown Pot, not coconuts. I've been there, I know...
More to come
Did anybody notice what I noticed in the fourth photo? I would have to say they are all natural...
Give it a rest, can you think about anything that doesn't have to do with sex?
el gran poste,
They're in Panama, not Columbia, and I doubt very much that this small indigenous group is involved with the drug trade.
Yeah, the Kuna aren't directly involved in pot or cocaine production. Some of them have helped shippers off the coast, but they're not major players.
Yes photo 4, must be the coconuts
Nice rack
Unless you are referring to pot grown in South Carolina it is "Colombian", not Columbian...
The Kuna move out, the Tuna move in.
The issue of the displacement of populations inhabiting coastal areas aside there is another very significant effect from the rising sea levels. Though CO2 is the most significant greenhouse gas that is directly linked to human activity, water vapor is a far more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. As the sea levels rise, just a little bit when you take into consideration the that slight rise spread over the entire globe you have considerably more surface area of water that is subject to evaporation thus increasing rain fall and flooding while at the same time accelerating global warming. Of course the even more potent greenhouse gas is methane and much though some have focused on methane that is the result of the cattle and dairy industry the much larger giant that is on the verge of 'awakening' is the billions of cubic feet of methane that have been trapped in permafrost for thousands of years. Before long if something fairly dramatic isn't done we'll reach a point where that permafrost will thaw 'overnight' (in relative terms) releasing enormous amounts of methane into the atmosphere.
If I lived on a small isolated island, I'd be in the pot smoking trade.
Save the coconuts, pot and Almond Joy's....life is good.
Good for them. It is a relatively harmless pastime, in truth.
And I'm a big fan of the coconuts.
Columbia, like in British Columbia or District of Columbia IS DIFFERENT THAN Colombia the country that provides the world with drugs.
Hmmm
"billions of cubic feet of methane that have been trapped in permafrost for thousands of years"
And how is global warming is man made? Please don't answer!
I'm so glad Rush Limbaugh told me waaaay back in 1994 that global warming was a scam and that all of the temp readings of that time were wrong. Otherwise, I might give this article a second thought.
When it's done right, Pot Smoking can be fun! ~_o
Yes, that woman has two awesome coconuts I would love to bite into...
Sea Level rising - Well is this called Global Warming .?
Oh an Greenland Ice-burg is almost 1/2 melted . This too is global warming .
And the Russian Canadians and our government have treaties about new waterways from Glaciers melting . I think may people still do not believe this exists .
I am in discussions on a couple of engineering forums that I belong to speaking of recycled water. I promote recycling here in the USA and have worked on many large International Projects for DI, RO, Desalination, Filtration Ultra Filtration, and others. In amazes me that some of the astute "learned" managers in the group do not see the value of recycling, joke about the methods, and refuse to believe that the "Water Wars" have started and will get fiercer. Lots of water, but not so much potable.
This series has been interesting, keep it going.
Respectfully,
The-COG
@ The-COG:
Great point! If you haven't yet, you should read this report. You are on the right track concerning "Water Wars." "GLOBAL TRENDS 2025: A Transformed World." http://www.dni.gov/nic/PDF_2025/2025_Global_Trends_Final_Report.pdf .
Everyone should read this and digest its impact..........
guys I tried to reply, but my post #11, was posted as a new post. Please take a minute to read it and reply. Thanks.
Where's Waldo- Thank you for the link. The report is quite an eye opener.
The old link seems to be broken. Try This link if mines doesn't work:
http://www.aicpa.org/research/cpahorizons2025/globalforces/downloadabledocuments/globaltrends.pdf
Yeah...it's like any second now (forget the "ice age" warnings of the 1970's) the water is going to rise and swallow up all these islands. WOW...a 7" rise in the last 100 years is extrapolated to another 24" rise in the next 88 years.
What a complete load of baloney. These poor people are right to be frightened of their government. Nothing about this makes any sense whatsoever on the sole basis of rising water....that would be about 3"-4" in the last 50 years.
The sea level isn't rising -- the islands are sinking. Rush explained it to me.
Love it
We know he KNOWS!
Expanding on the World According to Rush, the islands are sinking because of Obama, the Democrats, the liberal media and socialist policies in general. Raw unimpeded capitalism would save the day but is perpetually thwarted by the left.
Sea levels have been rising for the last 10,000 years. The cavemen must have done it...
Sea levels flattened after the Holocene Thermal Optimum, 8,000 years ago.
Until now, that is.
PR... look here for a different scientific take: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/coast/prehistory/images/sea-level.html
The northern land mass is still rising today, after being freed from glacier's weight. That causes sea rise in lower altitudes, as the skin of the Earth adjusts to it.
You can't just look at the Texas coastline, Max.
Undoubtedly, isostatic rebound happens - but it's a local event (most noticable in the English Channel, when melting Scotish glaciers caused a rebound that completely flooded nearby Doggerland).
But the very same scientists who study isostatic rebound also study current sea rise. It's unlikely that they're completely right about the past, yet completely wrong about the present - isn't it?
The consensus is that sea levels are rising - the numbers on the rate floated vary wildly, partially because measuring sea levels is very tricky and imprecise (years ago I was personally taking some measurements while in college). See here: http://sealevel.colorado.edu/content/tide-gauge-sea-level
I gave an example from Texas to contradict your assertion that "Sea levels flattened after the Holocene Thermal Optimum, 8,000 years ago. Until now, that is." - which is at best misleading because the sea level has been rising (albeit more slowly) for the last 8000 years as well.
@Max - Couldn't have been 10,000 years ago. God created this planet and everything in it 6000 years ago. If you don't believe it, just ask the Romney - Ryan crowd.
Max, I'm sorry you're still in denial; it's tough when you have emotional attachment to theories empirically proven wrong.
When your descendents are fishing from the archipelagos of what was once Texas in the Western Interior Seaway, mark 2, and the wheat belt is in Siberia, everyone will wonder how America could have allowed shortsighted greed to prevail over factual evidence- when the consequences were so disastrous.
These things will happen- we're past the tipping point.
Barring some miraculous new technology, it's too late to prevent either event from transpiring.
Try just a little harder to look at the facts instead of trying to debunk reality- and perhaps you can start to rectify what you helped make possible.
Debunking what reality? That earth climate has been warming up for the last 10,000 years? I say: adapt or die. That is a reality... stopping global warming is a pipe dream.
The simple truth. The first sentence in your post is neither, and the second makes implications which are a symptom of your failure to accept responsibility.
I begin to wonder...would an intelligent adaptive response include the eugenic pruning of our gene pool to prevent such monolithic idiocies in future?
It seems you can't teach those who put us in this quandry.....
I can almost guarantee that I use less energy than you do. I was an environmentalist before it became fashionable, I grow lots of my own food, and I live on an organic farm. But don't sell me politically correct selective read science because reality is far more complex than that. And you better believe that my descendants will adapt to whatever comes their way - be it Waterworld, Dune, or Mad Max the road warrior world.
Are you listening Florida. Your turn is coming.
Florida, Texas, and much of the interior. Given the color of sea water, many Red States are likely to become both blue and green eventually. If that isn't irony, what is?
Even the Kuna don't trust their gov't. I hope they don't get screwed over.
Well, of course, the Kuna have been in conflict with first the Spanish, then the Colombian, and finally the Panamanian governments since at least the 1570s. That's why they're still a distinct, autonomous native group after the shenanigans of the last 500 years in the Americas.
These people have been there 100s/1000s of years, and survived. Big question, report stated they live houses made of Reeds and Palm leaves. How is it they are fully clothed? If they have it so bad, but they don't a have problem reproducing
The reeds and palms work well if you're in a climate that never gets cold, and not really too hot. They also have more substantial buildings usually on shore. They prize being able to live outside the broader economy. But, as the article states, that's changing more and more with the younger generation. I saw a Kuna kid wearing an Ohio State shirt, and that kind of says it all.
I was born in Panama and I remember those indians when they lived on the mainland and they made beautiful things for sale it is sad to think that they have to leave where they moved to to come back to the mainland because they weren't happy to live there in the first place all because of man is doing to Mother Earth.
I agree with Ron46 because I unfortunately live in Florida and with these waters raising as they are Florida is going to be in trouble sooner than later.
Aw gee, this is just awful. These poor people will have to move back to the nasty mainland, and they only have about 90 years to do it. Boo freakin' hoo!
The CO2 levels in the United States have dropped 20% over the last few years. Look it up. Perhaps the climate change/global warming true believers need to voice their concerns to the real polluters like China and India.
No, the CO2 levels haven't dropped in the US, the rate at which we're producing it has dropped. Current CO2 levels are still ~390 ppm. But you're right, China and India are increasingly the big problems.
Where does one go to look up nonsense? Certainly not here..
http://climate.nasa.gov/keyIndicators/
Here ya go Falstaff...and I meant to say the amount of current emissions.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-08-17/ap-impact-co2-emissions-in-us-drop-to-20-year-low
Have to agree with you Wally. China has polluted so much of their drinking water. Just google China and pollution.
Wally, that is good news that the CO2 levels being released in the US have dropped by a percentage, but what matters is what is accumulating, and that hasn't dropped. The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere continues to climb.
As for China, agreed. They have a no cultural bias toward a cleaner environment and their smog problems are absolutely horrible.
We are all frogs in a pot. Turn the temperature up slow enough and nobody notices....until it is too late.
If global warming is true, it's already too late.
Not in the slightest. Yes, it takes a while to stop a freight train, but we CAN stop it. We are not the entire effective force instigating change, but there can be little doubt we are definitely a strong factor in that change. Put 100,000 army ants into a field and it will be stripped bare in a very short time.
Wwell, it might be possible that I am the ignorant one here. My wife thinks so. I wash the street in front of my house with municipal water. We live in a tropical country and the municipality has a source that is constantly replenished by rain. If we don´t use the water, the water in the rivers and creeks all end up in the ocean. That is my logic. The water I use to wash the sidewalk goes down the drain into the ocean also and, my theory goes, evaporates and the clouds gather and the wind pushes them back to the mountains where the become so dense they rain on the mountains and run into the creeks and rivers.
I like to think I have an open mind, so where is the flaw in my logic?
Thanks for any opinions
Some claim that the sea ice and glaicers are melting, so that is where the water would be coming from.
It's not so much that sea ice and glaciers are melting, but that they are melting faster than they are being replaced. Also sea ice melt doesn't make ocean levels rise because it displaces an amount of water equal to its weight. On the other hand as snow and ice levels build on land the sea levels lower, as they melt, sea levels rise. As we're in a human assisted warming cycle this process between Ice ages is accelerating, and if the glaciers of Greenland and Antarctica slide into the sea we can expect major changes in beach front property around the world at the very least. It took geological processes hundreds of millions of years to sequester atmospheric carbon under the ground in the form of hydrocarbons, now we have been harvesting that energy and dumping the byproduct of CO2 into the atmosphere for about a century or two and the result is a jump in the average world temperature called global warming. The linkage between the human consumption of fossil fuel, global warming and sea level rise could not be more clear.
Marty your right that there is an endless cycle of water. The problem becomes when some of that water is taken out of play. Some of it is used for industry. Some of it is used for drinking. Some of it is bottled and stored.
The issues happen when there are so many people and so many companies that we litterally drink the rivers and lakes dry. When there's not enough water going back into the cycle fast enough. Then you have people going thirsty. Then you have the price of water rising. Then you have fights over who controls what water, who gets to drink, who gets to live and who gets to die.
This is a problem that is comming. It's not here yet but it is comming. Fortunatly we have some smart forward thinking people who are looking at solutions. Probibly solutions that will also make them rich.
But don't our trees need and use CO2? Hasn't the earth warmed and cooled naturally for millions of years (along with the rise and fall of sea levels)? I believe we have an affect on the earth - I just believe the sun has a much greater affect than we ever could.
Sure, trees DO use CO2, but the largest tracts of trees (rain forest) are still being mass-cut to make way for South American construction, the American tracts of huge forest land are largely gone, but for our national forests.
The sun sure does have an affect upon the Earth, but we now have 6,000,000,000 humans breathing in air (thousands of times more than even 300 years ago), drinking water and clearing land for homes, farms and businesses. If you think the Sun will have a greater affect than we ever could, you have a very incomplete picture of the situation. How long does it take a dead elephant to decay to bone in the sun? How long does it take with 100,000 hungry army ants plus the sun?
Fred's got it right. Don't underestimate what humanity can do. Everyone knows we can whipe ourselves out with nuclear bombs. We can just as easily do it with billions and billions of cars.
Though personaly I think we are smart enough and tough enough to survive just about anything we can do to-ourselvse.
Not saying it will be pretty. Just that we could probibly survive it.
Marty,
Nobody here is refuting the existence of the hydrological cycle. Of course what you say is true. The article is pointing out that sea levels are rising and islands are eroding and that global warming is the primary cause for at least three reasons:
1. Water expands when it warms thus the entire volume of water on the planet expands as global temperature increases.
2. Frozen terrestrial ice (e.g. Greenland, Antarctica etc.) is added to the oceans. This is exactly the same as if you put an ice cube in a glass that is already completely full of water.
3. Increased levels of carbon dioxide react with water and produce carbonic acid. This contributes to acidification of the world's oceans. Many small islands were constructed from coral reef building. Hermatypic coral (reef-building coral) is composed mostly of calcium carbonate which dissolves under acidic conditions. This literally dissolves coral atolls and the land that they support.
Global warming can impact the hydrological cycle in many ways to numerous for a post. They can change ocean currents, air currents, increase evaporation rates directly or indirectly by having bodies of water that normally are covered with ice remain ice-free all winter. This dramatically increases winter evaporation rates (look at the Great Lakes over the last few years to get an idea).
Rush Limbaugh has is on "good authority" that global warming and climate change is a scam. The polar Ice caps are shrinking and the ocean levels are rising & we just experienced the warmest spring and summer on record. There's going to be a lot of people moving in the next few decades.
The warm spring and summer have nothing to do with global warming, more complicated factors have been involved. If you think so, prove it.
It's already been done, Wally:
The climate dice are loaded now.
For me the importants words are: "on record". We have only been keeping weather related records for a few measly hundred years or so - the earth is MUCH older than that. That needs to kept in mind anytime someone talks about 'record breaking'...anything that happened in "the past several years" (retired physicist's post) is NOT record worthy. Nor is it necessarily indicative of what will happen in the future.
Thanks for the informative post physicist. However, you waste your breath on those who refuse to even acknowledge what is becoming more and more clear every year. To those who don't think any of this has to do with humans or is even happening at all, what would it take to convince you? Clearly well researched and peer reviewed science and logical persuassion aren't cutting it.
You didn't even read it, did you, CT?
Just 30 years ago, extreme weather affected 0.1 - 0.2% of the Earth's landmass in a given year. It now affects 10% of the landmass per year. This is exactly what climate science predicted - and it's become a fact we live with every day now.
No one can reasonably deny this any more. Think of that fact the next time you experience a flood/drought/extreme storm/heatwave/blizzard/cold snap. It's already here - and it's going to get much, much worse.
And how do you know that the Earth is much older? Science? The very same science that now says humans are dramatically changing our climate?
Science isn't a Chinese menu, CT. You can't just pick the parts you like, and ignore the rest. Either the scientific method works, or it doesn't.
Yep, but here's the rub, just because we don't KNOW, doesn't mean we can't extrapolate.
And you need to keep in mind that while the Earth HAS experienced much more extreme environments than we have during our RECORDED history, that doesn't mean that humans could stand those extremes in any way.
We will NOT harm the planet, the Earth couldn't care less what we do. WE WILL NOT DESTROY THE EARTH. But we will make it so hot we cannot live here. We will make it so dirty we cannot live here, we will force the seas to rise until there is less habitable land for the 9-10,000,000,000 people we will likely have in the next few decades.
The Earth isn't going anywhere, but we can make it impossible for us to live on it.
"And you need to keep in mind that while the Earth HAS experienced much more extreme environments than we have during our RECORDED history, that doesn't mean that humans could stand those extremes in any way.
We will NOT harm the planet, the Earth couldn't care less what we do. WE WILL NOT DESTROY THE EARTH. But we will make it so hot we cannot live here. We will make it so dirty we cannot live here, we will force the seas to rise until there is less habitable land for the 9-10,000,000,000 people we will likely have in the next few decades.
The Earth isn't going anywhere, but we can make it impossible for us to live on it."
AND THAT, my fellow human beings, just about SUMS it up EXACTLY.........
The BIGGEST threat to human survival IS......OVER POPULATION and the requirements it will take to FEED, CLOTHE, and HOUSE that population. We are already 2 BILLION people PAST the tipping point and by 2025, we will be 3 BILLION past.
Thank (whatever deity you might believe in), I am NOT in denial.
Nuff said......
Now back to stockpiling LONG TERM supplies for myself and my family.........good luck to those of you whom still have your heads buried up to your necks in the sand
Has anyone ever wondered why the Polynesian people left their islands 10,000 years ago and sailed off to find new places to live? Maybe their homes went underwater -- literally -- too and they had to relocate. Nothing is static or permanent on this planet, so everyone near the ocean should have a 'Plan B' and start finding higher ground. That includes all the retirees in Florida and the entire city of New York.
Two words, mathuin: population pressure.
They could view it as an expanded fishing opportunity.
True they could fish from the bedroom window.
Anytime the woman in picture 4 wants to leave for some R&R I will buy her a ticket. She has to leave the kids at home though. I can see that the coconuts are quite big in that part of the world.
really.....ugh
Hey, don't talk about my sweetheart like that. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I am a lover of large Coconuts I can't help it.
Yes, really.
Men appreciate women. We appreciate the features of women. It's helped the race survive for 18,000 years or so.
It ain't going away!
Hmmm, this does not bode well for the 26 million people in Bangladesh who live on the delta about 2 meters above MSL. Where will they go? Who will take them in? Earth is changing faster then people thought it would. We ain't seen nuthin' yet!
That is their problem.
How.....conservative, of you.
The glaciers are receding. Let them move north to the newfound land there!
There's a global shortage of water. Any NEW water is greatly appreciated.
There's increased ocean passage also with fewer floating ice packs.
There's more pasture.
There are many reasons to accelerate global warming!
Sounds like some powerful group has designs on those islands.
Nice rack!
engnenk, I see you have a taste for delicious coconuts too. I want to marry her and make more babies...
Leave them alone. With the way they live a couple of old barges could be filled with sand and anchored there making some high ground. They would be fine. If they are moved they will never be happy, nor will they assimilate.
Originally these people lived on the main land 80 years ago before the epidemic caused them to move. I think they would do just fine.
Not without land upon which to grow crops. You can live on fish for a while, but I suggest you look up scurvy. They would NOT be fine.
Most likely the island is needed for a new casino and luxury resort.
HEY ::::::::: el gran poste
IF and that is a BIG IF you "KNOW" i've been there then you would know Columbian is spelt Colombian!
Migration is the proper solution to the Kunas' problems. Carry on.
They left the mainland to go there. Now they are simply going home.
Use Guna Yala, Panama to locate.
I have to ask, these islands are having a problem with sea level, right? How come we don't see these same problems all along the U.S. Gulf coast? The entire U.S. coast line? If sea level is truly rising, how come Galveston and similar areas aren't under water already? Since we're not seeing such problems here, and we know that the world is tectonically active, I have to reach the conclusion the islands are sinking. Otherwise we would see the same problems everywhere, especially worldwide. There's a lot of inhabited islands out there.
What part of the US coastline would you like to look at?
Rising Sea Levels Seen as Threat to Coastal U.S.
More at the link.
The fact that you miss it doesn't mean it didn't happen.
http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/critical-issues-sea-level-rise/
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/story/2012-06-24/east-coast-sea-rise/55795690/1
This is a really good interactive map that allows you to zoom in on specific areas. http://flood.firetree.net/
The purpose what the author want to say is not about drug or politics, but about indigenous people. Remains to be seen, if I insist that we must back off, but we'd rather stay where we are and leave these people off our contacts. We Americans have been simply and enormously responsible for devastating anything we coveted. If we wish they could live their lives peacefully and happily, then only thing we can do help them is just moving back, not stepping into their territory.