Page - 385 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

16 ClimateMigrationandCulturalPreservation… 385 Fig.16.1 TheRepublicof theMarshall Islands. Sourcehttps://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.phpid= 8080 munities. Participants had all lived in theMarshall Islands, and currently lived in multiple locationswithin theUnited States, includingArkansas,Washington, and Ohio. 16.3 TheMarshall Islands TheRepublic of theMarshall Islands presents an important case study for under- standingriskstoculturallossforlow-lyingislandsfacingrelocationintheimmediate future.Situatedonaverage just2mabovesea level, the29coralatollsandfivecoral islands that comprise theMarshall Islands (shown inFig. 16.1) have little capacity towithstandevenminor increases in sea level and tides. In addition to the immedi- ate dangers of increased tides on residents’ lives and property, salt-water intrusion threatensalreadyscarcefreshwater resourcesandwarmeroceansdamagetheatolls’ protective reefs. In the longer term, the islands face increasingly intolerable risks, leavinglimitedadaptiveoptions,mainlyvoluntaryresettlementordisplacement(see alsochapterbySchinkoet al. 2018;Mechler andSchinko2016). Currently, nearly a third of the population lives outside of theMarshall Islands. These high levels of contemporarymigration from theMarshall Islands can help in anticipating future challenges faced by those displaced by sea level rise. The primary destination ofmovement out of the RMI is theUnited States, due to the provisions under theCompact of FreeAssociation (COFA).Under theCOFA, the