Kiribati to be first nation to see sunrise in 2000

This postcard paradise in the South Pacific faces many problems

December 30, 1999
Web posted at: 7:03 a.m. HKT (2303 GMT)

In this story: Kiribatese urge awareness of global warming President will leave 'beacon of hope' Hong Kong plans horse race, fireworks RELATED STORIES, SITES

TARAWA, Kiribati (CNN) -- Kiribati, a small postcard paradise near the international dateline, knows it will technically be the first nation to enter 2000, but it is full of doubts about its long-term future.

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Global warming and rising sea levels are taking their toll on the Pacific island nation. According to some reports, Kiribati (pronounced kir-ee-bass) could be entirely under water by 2025. Portions of Kiribati's islands have already disappeared.

"If nothing is done at the moment ... we believe that maybe this island will submit after 25 to 30 years," Kiribati environmental officer Bwere Eritaia said.

"The sea will come into our water lands and all the vegetation will die out, and we (will not) find anywhere to get our fresh drinking water," Eritaia added.

Kiribati is made up of three groups of islands -- the Gilbert Islands, Line Islands and Phoenix Islands -- about halfway between Hawaii and Australia. It has a population of about 80,000 people and a total of 717 square kilometers (277 square miles) of land.

Kiribati's Caroline Atoll, due to a modified international dateline, will see 2000's first sunrise at 5:43 a.m. (1743 GMT). The nation has renamed the atoll "Millennium Island" and plans a ceremony to mark the occasion.

New Zealand's Pitt Island will be the first inhabited region to see the sunrise, at 5:45 a.m.

Kiribatese urge awareness of global warming

Many Kiribatese are Roman Catholic and are drawing hope from prayers for their islands to survive the crisis of rising sea levels. But they are still concerned about the nation's fate.

Sections of the islands are inundated during high tide, erosion has caused houses to collapse and some regions have been evacuated. The nation's centuries-long lifeblood, fishing, is also threatened.

The Kiribatese hope international publicity generated by the nation's status as the first to greet the new century will lead people to think about global warming.

"We, the Kiribatese people, want the developed nations of the world to reduce their amount of gas emissions, so that the problems of sea level rises will not have too much of a dramatic effect upon us," fisherman James Aun said.

President will raise beacon of hope

Kiribati President Teburoro Tito, accompanied by 70 singers and dancers, will witness the first sunrise of 2000 on Millennium Island, which has been uninhabited for nearly a century. Tito will present a burning torch during a celebration, as a beacon of hope for the next 1,000 years.

"My message for that particular moment, when the sun is rising ... is to remind all our brothers and sisters out there in the world that there comes, you know, the new sunrise of the new millennium, and that this must remind us that we have to keep the faith in tomorrow," Tito said.

Although New Zealand's Pitt Island will be the first inhabited area to greet the millennium, the world will not be able to see live images of the region's sunrise.

Technical difficulties prompted the host broadcaster, Canadian-owned TV3, to suspend plans for a live link-up from the island, which has a population of 20 people. The footage will be released later in the day.

The first available live footage of New Zealand's new millennium dawn will instead come from Rangaika, a farm on Chatham Island, about 90 seconds after the Pitt Island dawn, the New Zealand government office said Wednesday.

Hong Kong plans horse race, fireworks

Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong will hold a Millennium Cup horse race and fireworks display simultaneously. A series of pyrotechnic balls, placed at 50- meter intervals and stretching in what has been billed a record 1,532 yards around the track, will ignite into a "dragon image" which will last about five minutes.

In Australia, fiery sea creatures three stories tall will pass through Sydney Harbor as the clock ticks down to the new millennium. The summer night will be lit up by 20 tons of fireworks at midnight.

Ten thousand voices in the Pacific island kingdom of Tonga will sing hymns praising God at midnight. Tonga, an hour ahead of most of New Zealand, will also be among the first nations to greet the new century.

CNN's Anand Naidoo, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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