Resource extraction to benefit global agriculture resulted in the forcible relocation of the Banaban people and made their once lush Pacific island unsuitable for human life. This is a cautionary tale of what happens when powerful economic interests conflict with the well-being of indigenous peoples. The Banabans’ valiant struggle inspires all humanity as we face similar economic and environmental challenges on a global scale.
Physical setting
Located in the Pacific near the equator, Banaba (also known as Ocean Island) is part of the Republic of Kiribati. It is a small, raised coral atoll with a land area of approximately six square kilometers (2.5 square miles). Banaba is one of the world’s most important phosphate-rich islands, along with Nauru, Makatea (in French Polynesia) and Angaur (in Palau).
Mining on Banaba
After Banaba was sustainably inhabited for over two thousand years, the British annexed the island in 1900. A rushed agreement did not make clear the long term environmental impacts of phosphate mining to the Banaban people. It granted the Pacific Islands Company a 999-year lease for an annual fee of 50 pounds, about 4,200 pounds in today’s money. The result of this agreement was that between 1900 and 1979, nearly all of Banaba’s original surface was removed. Under the direction of the British Phosphate Commissioners (BPC) of Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, the land became uninhabitable.
Banabans received minimal royalties or other benefits from the mining operations. Banaban compensation has been estimated as less than 0.1% of profit generated for agricultural, farming, shipping, and manufacturing businesses supported by the BPC in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Instead, Banaban land was sacrificed to run the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (now Kiribati and Tuvalu) and supply a critical input for a global superphosphate fertilizer and food supply chain.
Those who experienced the effects of mining recall Banaba’s natural landscape with sorrow. Riddled with limestone pinnacles, the island no longer has an adequate supply of fresh drinking water and has lost much of its pandanus, coconut, almond and other food sources. Banabans have attempted to obtain reparations from the British Phosphate Commission and the three countries responsible for mining (Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), but to date these efforts have been unsuccessful.
The Banaban Diaspora
Japan targeted Banaba for its mines during World War II and BPC employees, but not many of the Banaban people, were evacuated when Japanese forces invaded in the island. The occupiers established a brutal rule that saw many Banabans perish from starvation or torture. Mining resumed with the end of the War. To expedite phosphate extraction and accommodate the island’s decreasing ability to support life, the British colonial government relocated most of the Banaban population to Rabi Island in Fiji.
Banabans lost many elders and holders of customary knowledge and tradition during mining and the war, but they did their best to rebuild their culture in Fiji. Several families now have also migrated to Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand or the USA. Rabi has no central electricity supply and limited infrastructure, health, financial and community facilities. Nevertheless there is a vibrant and creative community across four villages who, with their families abroad, maintain their care for and connection to their ancestral island that still awaits justice and proper rehabilitation.
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A Lesson for All of Us
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What happened on Banaba is playing out on a global scale right now. Extraction-based mining, native habitat destruction, and uncontrolled carbon emissions have the potential to destroy Earth’s ability to support life. In a cruel twist of fate, Banaba and its neighboring Pacific islands in the Republic of Kiribati will be the first lands to be lost to rising sea levels, thereby being victimized twice. Already, high tides flood the first floor of the hospital in Tarawa, with the largest towns in Kirbati. Patients and equipment must be relocated, and power outages are common.
By supporting the Banaban people and helping them tell their stories, the Fiery Canoe Foundation hopes to have a positive impact on Banaba, for the Banaban people in Rabi, and far beyond our home islands to the rest of the world.