Tiny Alaskan island Kivalina will sink completely into the ocean in another 10 years

Climate change has been a topic of discussion among global leaders for quite some time now, and its inevitable effects seem to have taken a dreadful toll on the small islands that are under threat of sinking into the large oceans due to the rise in water levels.

One such place is Kivalina, a small Alaskan island surrounded by the Chukchi Sea. The local people living on the island say that the water is slowly engulfing and eating away their homes. Experts believe that everything, including the homes, school and black sand surrounding the island will be gone within the next decade, thanks to the current rise in sea levels.

At its highest, the water surrounding Kivalina is about four metres above the normal levels. Experts say that if the situation does not improve, the island which once inhabited Eskimos will be gone forever and will only exist in literature.

To save their homeland, the villagers residing on the island have started to build rock walls and barriers made of giant sand bags to stop water from entering into the mainland. During the colder months, a natural ice barrier helps to do the same job, however, the ice melts away and contributes to even more water when the climate gets warmer.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama is on a three-day trip to Alaska to address the issue of climate change. Obama is expected to talk to the native people who feel threatened by the repercussions of one of the most deadly environment issues today.

Apart from Kivalina, small islands in the Pacific near Australia, including Tuvalu and Kiribati, are under the same threat. In addition, there is another island in Alaska called Newtok which is losing as much as 30 metres of land every year to the surrounding water.

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