Tuo climate change study

Full Report

John Selwyn Nokali (Paramount chief Tuo village)

The environment that we live on is changing dramatically not only in the social structures of the community settings but also the cultural and traditional way of living

John Akeso (Fishermen Tuo village)

In the 70s up until the early 90s whenever I would go out fishing for the family it would take me only an hour to fill my canoe with fish. Today I can spend the whole day fishing and come home with only 2 or 3 fish. Apart from that am divingsea cucumber that I sold them to some buyers. Most of my diving time when I cameto a specific area I used to dive before I found myself that most of the corals hadbeen death.

Mary Nogonyigi (Elderly mother)

In the early 1950s I used to prepare in advance collecting firewood, stones, leaves, ahead of the breadfruit season around June and October. From the 1990s until now there has been a big change in the harvesting of fruit trees especially bread fruits. These days I don’t prepare as I did in the past. Breadfruit trees have less fruits and we cannot produce chips(nabo) in a big amount.

Palusi Blind Bato (Sailor)

I was saling with my father using a dug out canoe since I was a small boy. During that time my father taught me how to monitor the weather by reading certain stars and studying the currents and waves. During the 1990s I noticed that some of the signs were different from the olden days. I didnot tell people about this until I learnt from some people that it was due to high sea rise being experienced by low lying Islands.

Jessie Sakinga (Elderly mother)

When I first came to Tuo the whole community used to dig up the well to collect water for drinking, cooking, and washing. At the time the taste of the water from the well was perfect. During the mid 1990s I started to notice a difference in the taste of the water. The taste was a bit sour. Most of us women thought it was caused by us since we wash clothes and eating utensils close to the well.

Chris Low (Community leader)

The erosion of the shoreline started way back in the 60s. In 1965 the community looked good, after 15 years and beyond changes to the soil erosion becomes visible but was not take note of not until in the 90s. To date about 20 meters have eroded and the other side has eroded as far as 100 metres. The elders say the king tides erode the soil, North West tides build up the soil, south west wind destroys the soil.