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Nauruan warrior, 1880. Nauru was settled by Micronesians around 3,000 years ago, and there is evidence of possible Polynesian influence. [1] Nauruans subsisted on coconut and pandanus fruit, and engaged in aquaculture by catching juvenile ibija fish, acclimated them to freshwater conditions, and raised them in Buada Lagoon, providing an additional reliable source of food. [2]
The economy of Banaba and Nauru has been almost wholly dependent on phosphate, which has led to environmental disaster on these islands, with 80% of the islands' surface having been strip-mined. The phosphate deposits were virtually exhausted by 2000, although some small-scale mining is still in progress on Nauru. Mining ended on Banaba in 1979.
The damage done through mining extends further by ocean acidification and coastal erosion, these have threatened the terrestrial and marine biodiversity. [8] The people of Nauru also face continued negative health effects from the mining in the form of phosphate dust pollution and cadmium pollution, tainting the water and air quality. [8]
The mining in Nauru has also had profound social and health consequences for the country. [162] The reliance on phosphate mining as the main source of income has made Nauru extremely vulnerable to fluctuations in global commodity prices, leading to economic instability and uncertainty. [ 163 ]
1940 map of Nauru showing the extent of the phosphate mined lands. Mining operations on Nauru began in 1906, at which time it was part of the German colonial empire. The island had some of the world's largest and highest quality deposits of phosphate, a key component in fertiliser, making it a strategically important resource on which agriculture in Australia and New Zealand depended.
The tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru has notified a U.N. body of plans to start deep-sea mining, giving the International Seabed Authority (ISA) two years to complete long-running talks on ...
Following the Nauru Agreement of 2 July 1919 the interests of the PPC in the phosphate deposits in Nauru and Ocean Island were acquired by the governments of the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, which carried out mining under the direction of the Board of Commissioners, which represented the three governments. [13] [12]
After Nauru ended ties with Taiwan on Monday, just two days after a presidential election in Taiwan, the island is left with only 12 countries that formally recognise it.