EASTER ISLAND IS ERODING

Many of the Moai statues and nearly all of the Ahu, the platforms that in many cases also serve as tombs for the dead, ring the island. With some climate models predicting that sea levels will rise by 152cm to 182cm by 2100, residents and scientists fear that storms and waves now pose a threat like never before.

“You feel an impotency in this, to not be able to protect the bones of your own ancestors,” said Camilo Rapu, the head of Ma’u Henua, the indigenous organisation that controls Rapa Nui National Park, which covers most of the island, and its archaeological sites. “It hurts immensely.”

Similar fates are faced by islanders throughout the Pacific Ocean and along its margins, in places like the tiny Marshall Islands that are disappearing under the sea and the sinking megacity of Jakarta, where streets become rivers after storms hit. Kiribati, a republic of coral atolls RafaelRapuRapu,anarchaeologist,attheseawallatUraUrangaTe Mahina,onthesoutherncoastofEasterIsland. Moai statues at Ahu Tongariki on Easter Island. The rising sea levels greatest could erase mysteries of clues to of the civilisation the island: one of the

What caused that built the the stone statues. collapse north of Fiji, may be uninhabitable in a generation. Their residents may become refugees.

On Rapa Nui, the Polynesian name of this island, much of which has been recognised as a Unesco world heritage site, both the future and the past are threatened.

The island’s economy hangs in the balance. The archaeological sites are the backbone of the main industry: tourism. Last year, this island with only 6,000 residents attracted more than 100,000 visitors. Easter Island’s hotels, restaurants and tour businesses take in more than $70 million (RM274 million) every year.

Tourists usually begin their days in Tongariki, where they gather to watch the sunrise from behind a line of monoliths fac-