A child paddles his wooden canoe in the lagoon waters beside the two islands which make up Huene Island ( the island was split in two by sea erosion of the land in the 1970's), on the Carterets Atoll.
Rising sea levels have eroded much of the coastlines of the low lying Carteret islands in Papua New Guinea and waves have crashed over the islands flooding and destroying what little crop gardens the islanders have. Food is in short supply, banana and swamp taro crops are failing due to the salt contamination of the land and the islanders live on a meagre one meal per day diet of fish and coconut. There is talk by the Autonomous Region of Bougainville government to relocate the Carteret Islanders to Bougainville Island, but this plan is stalled due to a lack of finances, resources, land and coordination.