Islands on the Front Line

Regina Lepping travels around her homeland – the Solomon Islands – to discover how this remote Commonwealth country in the Pacific is on the front line of climate change.

Sea levels here are rising three times faster than the global average, some islands have already been lost and people have had to relocate their homes. Regina speaks to islanders about water shortages, unpredictable weather and sea level rise, and finds out how country’s very young population are engaging with climate change in the face of others concerns such as unemployment. She also meets a group of young surfers inspiring their local community to engage with environmental issues. And she talks to a family planting coral and clams around their small island home, and finds out how other young islanders are taking matters into their own hands.

Image: Surfers Nini Peter (left) and Junior Kareba, Credit: Jo Wheeler