Foreign Minister Bob Carr has announced $100,000 for the emergency supply of desalination units for the Marshall Islands, following continued severe droughts which have severely reduced agricultural capacity and risk endangering local lives.
Senator Carr explained that an estimated 5,000 people in the northern atolls are experiencing severe drought conditions with an additional 11,000 people affected by continued dry weather and crop loss.
“In some drought-affected areas, household water catchments and other storage facilities have run entirely dry, while salinity levels in underground water sources have reached unsafe levels. Frequently there is too little water for general consumption or for production of agricultural staples like breadfruit.”
Senator Carr commented that Australia would also work with the Marshall Islands on long-term drought preparedness planning, once the current crisis had passed.