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Geography, Economy and Environment of Atoll Island States

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Atoll Island States and International Law

Abstract

Atoll Island States are a particular type of country consisting of islands that exist on top of an atoll ecosystem, which is formed by the coral colonies and other organisms that survive around them. Corals colonies naturally expand and grow both horizontally and upwards, a characteristic that can explain why atolls have survived past changes in sea levels. Coral islands typically form on the top of atolls from the skeletons of dead coral and foraminifera, constituting complex active geomorphological features whose shape is influenced by local wave conditions and episodic events such as tropical cyclones. Atoll Island States tend to be medium to low income countries, with their economy dependent on agriculture, fishing, tourism. Government revenues are often heavily dependent on their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) and overseas aid. They tend to have high population densities, often concentrated on the island where the capital is located, which also concentrates most of the important infrastructure and government institutions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Barnett and Campbell (2010), p. 25.

  2. 2.

    Note that Kiribati also possesses Banaba, which is not an atoll.

  3. 3.

    Sato and Yokoki (2010), p. 1.

  4. 4.

    Barnett and Campbell (2010), p. 24.

  5. 5.

    Barnett and Campbell (2010), p. 24.

  6. 6.

    Kench et al. (2005), p. 148.

  7. 7.

    Kench et al. (2005), p. 148.

  8. 8.

    Kench et al. (2009), p. 146.

  9. 9.

    Kench et al. (2009), p. 146.

  10. 10.

    Kench et al. (2005), p. 147.

  11. 11.

    Kench et al. (2005), p. 145.

  12. 12.

    Sato and Yokoki (2010), p. 1.

  13. 13.

    Sato and Yokoki (2010), p. 1.

  14. 14.

    UNEP (1999).

  15. 15.

    Barnett and Campbell (2010), p. 26.

  16. 16.

    Kench et al. (2009), p. 183.

  17. 17.

    These nematocysts cells exist in corals and other cnidarians, and are used to capture prey and for defence.

  18. 18.

    Scleractinians are stony corals with a hard calcium carbonate skeleton. They are often described as “reef building corals”, though not all scleractinians are reef building.

  19. 19.

    Kleypas and Gattuso (2010).

  20. 20.

    Burke et al. (2011), p. 5.

  21. 21.

    Kench et al. (2009), p. 183.

  22. 22.

    Kench et al. (2009), p. 183.

  23. 23.

    Kench et al. (2009), p. 183.

  24. 24.

    Spalding et al. (2001), p. 10.

  25. 25.

    Spalding et al. (2001), p. 54.

  26. 26.

    TEEB (2010).

  27. 27.

    Which would represent a value of between US$ 364 and 3,360 billion for all the coral reefs in the world. Note that the higher estimate represents a value higher than the GDP of Germany, according to the CIA (2012).

  28. 28.

    Spalding et al. (2001), p. 48.

  29. 29.

    Reaser et al. (2000), pp. 1500–1511.

  30. 30.

    Spalding et al. (2001).

  31. 31.

    Kleypas and Gattuso (2010).

  32. 32.

    Sato and Yokoki (2010), p. 1.

  33. 33.

    Kench et al. (2009), pp. 180–213.

  34. 34.

    Shibayama (2009).

  35. 35.

    Despite the fact that nowadays the general media attributes many coastal problems to issues of climate change and rising sea levels.

  36. 36.

    Shibayama (2009).

  37. 37.

    Kench et al. (2009), pp. 180–213.

  38. 38.

    Barnett and Campbell (2010), p. 26.

  39. 39.

    Sato and Yokoki (2010), p. 1.

  40. 40.

    Kench et al. (2009), pp. 180–213.

  41. 41.

    Kench et al. (2009), pp. 180–213.

  42. 42.

    Blanchon et al. (1997), pp. 1–16.

  43. 43.

    Magnan et al. (2011).

  44. 44.

    Kench et al. (2009), pp. 180–213.

  45. 45.

    Sato and Yokoki (2010), p. 1.

  46. 46.

    Sato and Yokoki (2010), 5.

  47. 47.

    Kench et al. (2009), pp. 180–213.

  48. 48.

    See for example Sato and Yokoki (2010) and Kench et al. (2009), pp. 180–213.

  49. 49.

    Sato and Yokoki (2010), p. 5.

  50. 50.

    Sato and Yokoki (2010), p. 5.

  51. 51.

    Kench et al. (2009), pp. 180–213.

  52. 52.

    Kench et al. (2009), pp. 180–213.

  53. 53.

    Kench et al. (2009), pp. 180–213.

  54. 54.

    Webb (2005).

  55. 55.

    Webb (2005).

  56. 56.

    Sinane et al. (2010).

  57. 57.

    Sinane et al. (2010).

  58. 58.

    Webb and Kench (2010), pp. 234–246.

  59. 59.

    Webb and Kench (2010), pp. 234–246.

  60. 60.

    Webb and Kench (2010), pp. 234–246.

  61. 61.

    Accretion means the accumulation of sediments in a certain area, i.e. the opposite of erosion.

  62. 62.

    Webb and Kench (2010), pp. 234–246.

  63. 63.

    Burke et al. (2011).

  64. 64.

    Burke et al. (2011).

  65. 65.

    Barnett and Adger (2003), p. 327.

  66. 66.

    Barnett and Adger (2003), p. 327.

  67. 67.

    For example most people in Kiribati are engaged in subsistence activities, including fishing, the growing of bananas and copra (dried coconut), according to Loughry and McAdam (2008), p. 51. See also Maas and Carius (2012), pp. 1–17. In terms of the commercial exploitation of fisheries, tuna is very important to these islands, and 8 countries in the Pacific (Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu) have signed the Nauru Agreement, a subregional agreement on terms and conditions for tuna purse seine fishing licences in the region. This contributes US$31 million to the GDP of the Marshall Islands (almost 20 % of GDP), employing 1,229 people. It also employs 321 people in Tuvalu and 656 in Kiribati, according to the Tuna Economic Indicators Update published by the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency.

  68. 68.

    Mimura et al. (2007) (a chapter within the IPCC 4AR).

  69. 69.

    Representing more than one-fifth of the GDP of Kiribati and 28 % of that of the Maldives, according to the CIA “The World Factbook”.

  70. 70.

    Maas and Carius (2012), pp. 1–17.

  71. 71.

    Barnett and Campbell (2010), pp. 21–50.

  72. 72.

    Magnan et al. (2011).

  73. 73.

    Loughry and McAdam (2008), p. 51.

  74. 74.

    Loughry and McAdam (2008), p. 51.

  75. 75.

    Magnan et al. (2011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Londrina, Brazil

    Lilian Yamamoto

  2. Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Chiba, Japan

    Miguel Esteban

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  1. Lilian Yamamoto
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Yamamoto, L., Esteban, M. (2014). Geography, Economy and Environment of Atoll Island States. In: Atoll Island States and International Law. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38186-7_2

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