It is a small island off the coast of Panama. Its residents, just over a thousand Kuna natives, huddle together on the shore in extremely precarious conditions. The inexorable rise in sea levels led them to settle on land.
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Seen from the sky, it is a tangle of red, blue and gray roofs, between which we can see dirt roads and a few rare trees here and there. The sea all around.
Carti Sugdupu is one of the 365 islands in the archipelago of the indigenous Comarca Guna Yala in northwestern Panama. About fifty, all between 50 cm and one meter above sea level, are inhabited.
Some are tiny, like Carti Sugdupu, the size of five football fields.
Photo Luis ACOSTA / AFP
Its residents make a living from fishing, tourism and the production of cassava and bananas on the continent. The living conditions there are very precarious: There is no drinking water, no sanitary facilities and electricity is temporarily unavailable.
Water on the continent is collected directly from rivers or purchased in stores. The electricity comes from a public generator that only runs for a few hours at night. Only a few have their own generator or solar panels. Simple cabins at the end of a pontoon serve as toilets.
The floors of the houses are made of earth, the walls and roofs are made of wood or sheet metal. And to top it all off, sea levels continue to rise.
Photo Luis ACOSTA / AFP
“We noticed that the tide was rising,” Magdalena Martinez, a 73-year-old retired teacher, told AFP as she weaved a traditional garment in the family home.
“We believe that we will perish, we know that it will happen for many years, but we think about our children, we have to find something (…) where they can live in peace,” she explains.
The government and the indigenous community have been working for more than a decade on a project to resettle 300 families on the continent.
Magdalena Martinez Photo Luis ACOSTA / AFP
“Floating Island”
Added to the problem of “overpopulation” is the problem of “rising water,” emphasizes Marcos Suira, an official with the Panamanian Housing Ministry.
“With rising sea levels, a direct consequence of climate change, almost all islands will be deserted by the end of the century,” assures Steven Paton, a scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI, based in Panama).
“Some of the lower islands (…) are flooded every month at high tide,” he notes. According to the government, Carti Sugdupu will be extinct by 2050 at the latest.
The rainy season further exacerbates the situation. “The island is almost floating at this time, there are floods, that affects us,” complains Braulio Navarro, a teacher at the island’s elementary school.
Photo Luis ACOSTA / AFP
The 62-year-old man is preparing to move to the continent with his family. “I want to leave quickly because I know that we will have electricity there 24 hours a day, there will be fans and air conditioning, it will be a great benefit for my family,” he adds.
A recent report by the NGO Human Rights Watch laments the lack of space “for expanding living space or for children to play.” “Floods and storms have made life on the island even more difficult, impacting housing, water, health and education,” it said.
The 300 families will be accommodated on a 22-hectare forest plot not far from their former island until the beginning of 2024.
An aerial view of Carti Sugdupu Island. Photo Luis ACOSTA / AFP
Each family receives a plot of 300 m2, a house of 49 m2 with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a dining room and a kitchen, as well as drinking water and electricity. You can expand your house and start a vegetable garden. A school is being built.
“We are happy,” assures Nelson Morgan, the community’s highest indigenous authority.
Magdalena Martinez dreams of a house where she can “live with dignity,” even though she knows she will miss her island. “I’m happy, but also nostalgic. because I learned to live on the island and left many dreams and tears there.”