Lilisiana, a tiny fishing village located midway up the east coast of Malaita Island, has been dealing with the impacts of rising seas for years, and its residents have been doing their best to adapt to this and other impacts from the worsening climate crisis.
The successful implementation of the first phase of a garden project had just yielded its first crop of Chinese cabbage. The project entailed the construction and implementation of new gardening beds, now a meter above the ground where soil had been removed by rising tides.
This crop symbolized the resumption of what used to be a consistent flow of vegetables and cash into their village, and the beginning of the restoration of people’s ability to feed themselves after the seas had claimed land they’d previously cultivated.
It was from this area that 70-year-old Fay Saemala, a matriarch of the village, led several of the women involved in the project and our small group to the nearby coast to show us what was happening to Lilisiana’s cemetery.
“As a small girl, I used to come to this village to visit my grandfather. Now he is buried in this graveyard, which is being washed out to sea.”Faye Saemala
During high tide, several of the graves closest to the water are already regularly covered by water.
Small waves washed over the top of two small rock piles covering graves that were already permanently underwater.
Faye stood next to a tree, half of whose root system closest to the sea was already completely exposed. Large arms of roots hung in the air one meter above the sandy beach below, the tree beginning to list towards the water.
She pointed out how there used to be a road between the cemetery and the ocean that had long since been washed away.
I was standing alongside Carolyn Kitione, Virginia Tome, and Georgina Ariki with the Shifting The Power Coalition (STPC). The only women-led regional alliance in the South Pacific that is focused on strengthening the collective power, influence and leadership of Pacific women responding to the climate crisis, STPC was instrumental in the garden project.
But now, Lilisiana’s farmland and its land for the dead have become scarce.
“Of course we maintain a sense of connection with the dead,” Virginia told me when we spoke of the implications of what we saw. “Having the grave helps maintain that connection, which is now being lost for these people.”
Basilia Gelibaela, a mother of three children, sat forlornly amidst nearby graves, looking out at the sea.
Like the other villagers whose deceased loved ones had yet to be taken by the rising waters, she continued to visit their graves while she could.
Given the shortage of land, the cemetery continues to be used, despite what is happening. Most people in the village have no other choice.
“Lilisiana has such a land shortage, they must keep burying people near the sea. This is happening despite people here knowing that the entire graveyard will be washed out to sea within the next five to ten years.”Georgina Ariki
The only long-term solution would be to bury people at higher elevations. But, given the scarcity of land across all of the South Pacific now, this is rarely a viable option.
Jason Gagame, our photographer who is also from this island, did not take photographs of the rocks covering already submerged graves.
The rocks are there for a reason.
“This graveyard slipping into the sea, this is like losing part of yourself. There is nothing these people can do to stop this. They can only accept the fact their loved ones are gone again. It’s like losing their loved ones a second time.”Virginia Tome
Similar to losing land for growing crops, losing this cemetery and others like it to rising seas is becoming increasingly common across the South Pacific.
As this trend continues and sea levels creep ever higher, the work of Home Planet Fund’s partners across the region becomes more important than ever.
