Kiribati President visits Leyte, Samar By: Erlinda Olivia P. Tiu Saturday 29th of March 2014 TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, March 29 (PIA) - Another head of state is in the Yolanda devastated Eastern Visayas Region. [] President Tong President Anote Tong of Kiribati, officially known as the Independent and Sovereign Republic of Kiribati, an island nation in the central tropical Pacific Ocean, is the latest in the list of heads of state and high ranking foreign dignitary who have visited Leyte and Samar islands. President Tong was in Babatngon, Leyte in the morning of Saturday, March 29, 2014, Babatngon Mayor Chary Chan told the Philippine Information Agency. Actually, we are on our way to Barangay Bacod in order to visit the oil mill there, Mayor Chan told the PIA. From Babatngon, the visiting President and his Party will take lunch at a local restaurant in Tacloban City and visit Tacloban City, also, Chan added. It was also learned that in the afternoon of Saturday, the Kiribati President and his party will visit Mapanas, Samar. The permanent population is just over 100,000 in 2011 on 800 square kilometres (310 sq mi). The nation is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, Banaba, dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, (1,351,000 square miles) straddling the equator, and bordering the International Date Line at its easternmost point. In 2008, the Republic created the largest natural marine reserve in the world, 410 500 km ², about the size of California, in order to protect its fauna and marine flora called PIPA (Phoenix Islands Protected Area Protected area Phoenix Islands ). it is located halfway between Hawaii and Fiji and also includes underwater mountains. It is part of the natural assets that have been proposed for inscription on the World Heritage List in 2010, which is the first entry for Kiribati. Kiribati just like the Philippines is experiencing the effects of climate change. The altitude of Kiribati is not high, the threat that these islands are submerged by the rising level of ocean water is real. It was learned that in March of 2012, President Anote Tong said that his government is in talks with one of Fiji to buy them some 2,000 hectares of land. The population would then be transported to their new home, located about 2,000 kilometers away. As an alternative, Anote Tong spoke about the transfer of the population in Australia or New Zealand , the ability to construct artificial islands, or settle on oil platforms. Because of the young geological age of the islands and atolls and high level of soil salination the flora of Kiribati is relatively poor. It contains about 83 indigenous and 306 introduced plants on Gilbert Islands, whereas the corresponding numbers for Line and Phoenix Islands are 67 and 283. None of these species are endemic, and about half of the indigenous ones have a limited distribution and became endangered or nearly extinct due to human activities such as phosphate mining. Coconut and pandanus palms and breadfruit trees are most common wild plants, whereas the five most cultivated crops are Chinese cabbage, pumpkin, tomato, watermelon and cucumber.[43] It is interesting to note that seaweed farming is an important part of economy of Kiribati, with two major species Eucheuma alcarezii and Eucheuma spinosium introduced to the local lagoons from the Philippines in 1977. Seaweeds farming competes with collection of the black-lipped pearl oyster (Pinctada margaritifera) and shellfish, which are dominated by the strombid gastropod (Strombus luhuanus) and Anadara cockles (Anadara uropigimelana), whereas the stocks of the giant clam (Tridacna gigas) have been largely exhausted. (PIA 8) ###
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 21:57:31 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015