“Smallness is a state of mind” 1
In this writing many points are highlighted about the relevance of size of the islands that dot the Pacific. In our ever growing world population, land is at a premium and size does appear to matter. It is also important to remember even though our islands sit in a huge ocean our people live on small pieces of land. If a Google search is done of foreign investment in the pacific it is usually looked at in a positive light. This is sold as a necessary step for all Pacific nations to keep up with the economic powers of the developed world.2 Unfortunately too much to soon is a real problem in small nations, we just need to take a look at a few cases throughout the Pacific. In 1995, Niue one of the tiniest island nations was on the verge of selling its rainforest timbers to an overseas Taiwanese consortium. Fortunately this was leaked to the public and the sale was put on hold.3 In Samoa’s capital a huge number of old landmark buildings are being demolished to make room for new bigger buildings “gifted” by the Chinese government as payment for use of coastal waters and fishing quotas.4 Samoa also gets gifted loads of second hand cars from New Zealand, usually these are substandard and can not be sold legally with in New Zealand. This is why the Samoan government recently changed the roads from left hand to right hand drives.5 Nauru was once the envy of the Pacific in the 80’s. It was rich in guano used for fertiliser and it is now practically a barren wasteland left by the British. They took all of it’s top soil and left when the phosphate reserves were exhausted, and now it’s environment has been seriously harmed by mining5.
If smallness is a state of mind could grandness be a state of ego?
Even though our Pacific Ocean is large we do in deed come from small island nations within it. Not saying that the Pacific Islands don’t deserve the trappings of modern life just like any other country but the rate that this is happening is very alarming. Even if smallness is a state of mind it is still relevant to remember that these are very small places and they don’t have the ability to bounce back if major damage is done to their environments.
Our Sea of Islands- Epeli Hau’ofa pg 7
www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/.../s2981802.htm
http://hqweb.unep.org/climateneutral/Portals/0/Country/RelatedDocuments/Niue/Niue_Island_Initial_National_Communication_s16qh.pdf
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=51501
ibid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauru
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