Climate Change: Panama Evacuating Island
Video, listening, reading, transcript. The Central American country of Panama has become the first island nation to evacuate its island.
Intro
Why this video
- Listening Practice: The video provides an opportunity to practice listening comprehension, which is a critical component of the STANAG 6001 exam.
- By listening to the video, learners can improve their ability to understand spoken English, including different accents and speeds of speech, which are essential skills for achieving a high level of proficiency.
- Vocabulary Enhancement: The video includes specific vocabulary related to climate change, relocation, and government actions.
- Focusing on this vocabulary helps learners expand their lexicon, particularly with terms that might be relevant in professional and social contexts, which are often tested in the STANAG 6001 exam.
- Transcript Utilization: Having access to a transcript allows learners to read along while listening, which can aid in understanding and retention of information.
- It also provides a reference for reviewing difficult sections and ensuring comprehension of the content.
- This dual approach of listening and reading can reinforce learning and improve overall language skills.
- Contextual Learning: The content of the video is relevant to real-world issues, making it more engaging and easier to relate to.
- This contextual learning can help learners better understand and remember the material, as it connects language learning with practical, real-life situations.
- Skill Integration: The STANAG 6001 exam assesses multiple skills, including listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
- By using the video and transcript, learners can practice integrating these skills.
- For example, they can listen to the video, read the transcript, and then discuss or write about the topic, thereby enhancing their overall language proficiency.
Video
Description
The Central American country of Panama has become the first island nation to evacuate its island due to climate change. As the island's submerging risks increase, the government has relocated around three hundred families from a tiny island off Panama’s Caribbean coast. Experts warn that the island might submerge within decades. However, the people who have lived on the island for over 200 years say that the newly built houses are just brick-and-mortar structures, not homes. Despite the government's advice to evacuate the island, some residents have chosen to stay until it is unsafe. Watch this video to know more.
Transcript
Final Story: The Link Between North and South America - Panama
In a first, Panama is evacuating an entire island off its Caribbean coast due to the growing climate crisis. Around 300 families are being forced to abandon their home due to rising sea levels. The residents, who have lived on the island for over 200 years, have now been shifted to Panama's mainland. This unprecedented event marks a critical moment in the global climate crisis scenario. Our next report explains this shocking development and how climate change continues to reshape the environmental landscape.
The Impact on the Guna Community
Around 300 families have called a tiny island off Panama's Caribbean coast their home for generations. Their lives have always revolved around the sea and tourism. Water was their lifeline, their sustenance, their joy. But now, the very same water, once a source of life and prosperity, is becoming a force for their displacement, pushing them away from their beloved homeland—a place rich with 200 years of cultural heritage and memories.
The indigenous Guna community faces a heartbreaking reality: evacuate or drown. They are being asked to leave their homeland, where generations of their ancestors grew up, laughed, and loved. This island, only 366 meters long and 137 meters wide, has been their world. Now, they are preparing for an unimaginable change of moving to the mainland and abandoning everything they cherished.
The Relentless March of Climate Change
The reason for this is the relentless march of climate change. Rising sea levels, a direct and devastating consequence of climate change, are making life on the island impossible. Experts warn that the islands, barely half a meter above sea level, will soon be completely submerged. The Gunas will be forced to leave all of their islands, perhaps within decades.
Panama's government has relocated them to a place just 8 minutes away from their island, offering brand new houses. But these houses, despite their modern amenities, don't feel like home.
Personal Reflections
"Since I was a child, I was always in contact with the sea," one resident reflects. "Fun looked from the island to the forest to the jungle. So now it will be the other way around. This is what I'm going to miss—going in the water with my boat. My children probably won't do it because now we are going to be on the mainland. Where we live is in the very center of the island, and the bathrooms are a 10-minute walk away. The bathroom is not for one person; it is for maybe 15 to 20 people. Here, where they are giving us the house, we are happy because the bathrooms are going to be for us only."
The Broader Climate Crisis
The climate crisis that the world is experiencing, and among its effects, is the increase of ocean levels. This has forced Panama to relocate the islanders to this urbanization. Despite the gradual sinking of their island, some residents have chosen to stay until the last possible moment. They are refusing to abandon their homes until it's utterly unsafe, and the government respects their courage and decision.
Year after year, the island endures the relentless forces of climate change. Strong winds in November and December whip up the sea, flooding streets and homes. The islanders have tried to hold back the sea with rocks and corals, but their efforts are futile against such overwhelming natural forces.
A Pollution-Free Life
These islanders have lived virtually pollution-free lives. Their contribution to climate change is nearly zero. They lead simple, sustainable lives, unlike the giant cities that choke on their own emissions. Yet, it is they who are paying the highest price for a crisis they did not cause.
A Urgent Reminder
The plight of the Guna community is an urgent reminder that climate change is real, and its most devastating impacts are being felt by those who are least responsible.
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