Nauru is the most obese country in the world. The history of this very small republic of Micronesia is one of many examples of the havoc that man wreaks on nature and what the desire for easy wealth can do. The story is told by Turkish documentary filmmaker Ruhi Çenet.
With just over 12,000 inhabitants, Nauru, an island nation in Micronesia, is the second smallest country in the world, only larger than the Vatican City. At the same time, it is also the fattest country in the world, with 97% of men and 93% of women clinically obese. As if that weren’t enough, the World Health Organization reports that this tiny dot in the Pacific Ocean also has the highest cigarette consumption in the world.
Nevertheless, Nauru was one of the richest countries in the world until the late 1960s, when it became independent. However, it is now also one of the least visited countries in the world (only 200 people travel there every year), after all, even the closest countries are thousands of kilometers away. How did this situation come about? This is what Turkish documentary filmmaker Ruhi Çenet tells us, who managed to set foot on Nauru, not without difficulty.
Ruhi Çenet visits Nauru
After arriving at Istanbul Airport, Ruhi flew 13.5 hours to San Francisco. After a seven-hour layover, she took another plane to Nadi, Fiji, where she arrived after another 13 hours of travel.
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Here he waited another 7 hours to catch a flight that finally took him to Nauru after 4 hours. On this plane, 75% of the seats were unoccupied, a sure sign that its destination is anything but popular.
In fact, its geographical location could have made this state one of Oceania’s many tropical paradises, but today it is just a series of holes and mines surrounded by the sea.
The story of Nauru, once an earthly paradise
The history of Nauru begins when the Polynesian and Melanesian ancestors arrived there in their canoes and found an untouched area of palm trees and beaches. They began a life of fishing and farming.
But not just for people: this island has always been a popular resting place for migratory birds. Although it was thought to have limited resources, its soil contained a treasure called “guano,” which consisted of bird droppings and marine microorganisms.
In 1899, German geologist Albert Ellis discovered, explains Ruhi, that this plateau had high-quality phosphate reserves. Phosphate, once as valuable as gold, is a productivity-enhancing raw material in agriculture and during the First World War Australia turned Nauru into an overseas mining center.
With independence in 1968, the profits from the extraction of the deposits made this very small republic for a short time the country with the highest gross national product per capita and, although the redistribution of revenue was not egalitarian, the Nauruans received enough royalties to provide a comfortable To live life without work.
In 1975, Nauru had a per capita income of $176,000, while in the world’s largest economy, the United States, it was “only” $44,000.
Nauru managed to create a welfare state where there were no taxes; Education, transportation, health services and even housing were free.
But while the profits from mining have transformed the lives of Nauruans into those of kings and queens, the island has been systematically destroyed by continuous mining. Between wells several dozen meters long and limestone peaks, no agricultural product can thrive in this dry land with its high acidity.
As early as the 1970s, idleness had caused residents to drastically change their diet, abandoning the healthy diet of fish, vegetables and fruit that had supported them for centuries and turning instead to high-calorie but low-nutrient foods. Today there is hardly any alternative to this diet: those who live on Nauru are dependent on canned food from abroad, which is usually imported from Australia. It’s a luxury to have fresh fruit and vegetables on the island: just remember that a head of cauliflower costs 18 AUD (over 10 euros) and a watermelon costs 61 AUD (over 36 euros).
From wealth to obesity
Today it is recognized by the World Obesity Federation as the world’s most obese country, with about 60% of its citizens obese.
The average life expectancy on Nauru is 64 years. Poor nutrition has led Nauru to hold the title of most obese nation in the world for years. And it’s also the place with the highest rate of diabetes, more than 45% after age 55.
In addition, due to the fact that the extensive forest areas no longer exist, the climate has changed dramatically, changing from a typical tropical climate to an area with a climate with long periods of drought.
There is also the problem of a lack of living space. The destruction of the extractions has rendered 80% of Nauru’s territory uninhabitable, forcing its approximately 14,000 inhabitants into a 4km2 coastal area: the Buada Lagoon, the only untouched area on the island. Nauru was once full of this plant cover, but now it’s all gone.
That is not everything. Since there are no rivers or streams, the islanders have limited access to drinking water. And in turn, the sea is polluted by the way phosphates were loaded onto ships. Therefore, fishing is unable to meet the population’s food needs.
Cigarette addiction
If what has been described so far hasn’t already ruined the paradisiacal image of this country with (former) sandy beaches, there is another factor that could contribute: its tobacco addiction. OR
More than half of Nauru’s population cannot live without cigarettes: 52.9% of all Nauru natives are smokers.
Alarmed, the national government – which consists of only nineteen parliamentarians – is setting out to develop projects that will reverse this trend. But it is not easy: phosphate reserves have been depleted for years and exports have fallen to 1%. The country’s central bank collapsed and its foreign assets were gradually sold off.
Prison island for migrants
In 2001, to raise money, Nauru allowed unwanted refugees from Australia to be admitted in exchange for financial support. About a thousand refugees, mostly Afghans and Iraqis, were transported to the island and held indefinitely. Three refugee camps were set up in the north. People have to endure years in plastic tents under the scorching sun without access to clean water. Many tried to escape these miserable conditions. The children who suffered the most from this situation were the majority of the refugees in the camps.
As the documentary filmmaker explains, Australia spent $550 million a year maintaining these camps and the government of Nauru earned $500,000 for each refugee held on the island. Today they are completely empty, but for at least two decades they have been the scene of numerous tragedies in which people lost their lives due to medical negligence, accidents or because they took their own lives out of desperation.
What future does Nauru have?
Today, Nauru is counting the days to engage in deep sea mining in collaboration with the Canada-based Metals Company. Their plan is to extract polymetallic stones containing metals such as cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese: they will be the energy source of the near future.
Scientists warn that these mining operations could endanger marine life and potentially reduce the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon and accelerate climate change.
The illusion of wealth that Nauru found itself in at the end of the 1960s led this country inexorably towards environmental catastrophe. The government has made no plans for the future and has exhausted all of the country’s resources. It seems almost impossible to imagine a better future for the island.
Unfortunately, Nauru is one of many examples of man-made chaos and how the rush for easy money can lead to it. A summary of what is happening in the world. A lesson that humanity should always remember, as the good Çenet does not forget at the end of his documentary.