Essays /

Is The Payment By Government Of Essay

Essay preview

Is the payment by Government of Kiribati of full commercial rents to Bonriki and Buota land owners ethical? Can you propose alternate ethical solutions?
Kiribati consists of thirty-three islands in which thirty-two are low laying coral islands (Kiribati Tourism n.d.). For these low laying islands, the main source of potable water is groundwater lying in shallow, freshwater lenses (White et. al. 1999, pp. 3). Kiribati has a rapidly growing urban population occupying small areas of land, for instance approximately 15,000 people occupying 0.8 square kilometres of land on Betio, Tarawa Atoll (SOPAC 2005). This has led to an increase in human and animal activities and waste; contaminating these atolls. Subsequently, the number of atolls with accessible and uncontaminated water is decreasing. As a result, the Government of Kiribati has declared the uncontaminated atolls as public water reserves; restricting the traditional landowners, the kaianga, from accessing their own land and water (White et. al. 2008, pp.285). In return, the Public Utilities Board (PUB), a government based agency, have given the landowners financial compensation or leasing of the land (Pulea, pp.68). This is not viewed as an ethical solution as it fundamentally denies the basic ethic of water which is respect for human dignity. This is because, this financial compensation prohibits access of the kaianga to their own land; preventing traditional customs which are central to the kaianga’s culture. Therefore, financial compensation does not replace the symbolic meaning and cultural values of these atolls; hence a more equitable and ethical solution must be found to distribute groundwater amongst the urban and indigenous populations. Prior to European colonisation, the traditional landowners of Kiribati, the kaianga, governed the land in a communal manner ‘through the gathering of the unemwane (old men) in the maneeaba (meeting house) (White et.al. 2008, pp.285).’ However, after colonisation, a federalism based government was formed; excluding the kaianga to have input into the governance of Kiribati. For the kaianga, landownership carried cultural significance in terms of wealth and traditional values as well as be...

Read more

Keywords

-1487 -1528 -28 -287 -37 0.8 000 1 1476 15 1522 16 1978 1993 1998 1999 2 20 2005 2007 2008 2009 2013 25 26 282 3 32 42 49 57 6 67 7 70 71 8 abc access act activ adapt addit affect age agenc aid al alloc allow also altern amongst anger anim appoint approxim april area atol avail b base basic belong betio board bodi bonriki born bridg brisban buota care carri caus central challeng chang clean cleaner closer coloni colonis comm commerci commission committe common communal communiti compens conflict consequ consid consist constraint contamin continu contrast control coral cost could cours cover creat cultur current custom daniel dec decis declar declin decreas deni depend develop diagnost digniti dilemma discrimin diseas distribut done due educ effect elimin environ environment equal equit erad especi et et.al ethic european even evict exclud exclus exist feder feel financi focus follow foreign form format found free freshwat full fund fundament furthermor gap gather gef given global go good govern greater groundwat grow h harm harmoni health henc high hindranc holist hous howev human hydrolog ident ignor illeg immens import improv increas indic indigen inequit infrastructur initi input instanc institut interact interest intern involv irrat island issu iwrm jen journal k kaianga kilometr kirbati kiribati lack land landown landownership lay leas leav led legisl lens lie limit live livelihood local long long-term low m main maintain manag maneeaba manner map march mean medium meet men mention mind mirror motiv movement must n.d nation natur need new ngo non non-exist non-involv nov nov-dec number occupi occur old on-go order outcom overse own owner ownership pacif particip participatori past payment peopl per pinch place plan popul posit post post-coloni potabl powerless pp pp.1-77 pp.285 pp.42 pp.68 prevent principl print prior privat problem process product programm prohibit project propos provid provis pub public pulea purpos put rapid ration recharg refer reflect regul relationship reloc reluct remov rent replac report repres republ requir reserv resourc respect restrict result return review right rural rural-urban safe sanit sciencedirect sens servic settl shallow short signific siwrwmpic small societi solidar solut sopac sourc south specif spread squar stakehold state stewardship strateg strengthen strip strong stronger structur subject subsequ success suggest suppli symbol symposium system tarawa target techniqu ten term therefor thirti thirty-thre thirty-two though three throughout time tourism tradit train treat two uncontamin understand unemwan unesco unregul unsuit urban urbanis use util valu vandal view vol vulner wast water wealth well white whole whose within word world would year yet