• BLOG SURF
KATHMANDU, MARCH 29
The immense distance between islands in the Pacific creates challenges for accessing resources, particularly for women. Targeted policies, tailored for their needs, are required.
The Pacific atoll nations – Kiribati, Tuvalu, and the Republic of Marshall Islands – have largely and commendably retained their pristine, peaceful and culturally-rich locales.
Their small size and distance from intensely developed islands protects local people from pandemics and encroaching modernity that often erodes otherwise strong indigenous socio-cultural institutions, relations and networks of support. However, the geographic distance also creates issues.
This is perhaps best exemplified in Kiribati – an atoll nation straddling the equator and made up of 33 islands spread across three island groups: the Gilbert Islands, Phoenix Islands and Line Islands.
These islands are located over a vast geographical area equivalent to approximately 3.5 million square kilometers (3900 kms from east to west and 2100 kms north to south).
A version of this article appears in the print on March 30, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
