While across the Pacific communities are dealing with shrinking coastlines, one area in Papua New Guinea has an altogether different problem: a new island that has solidified and started supporting vegetation in the last few years has caused tensions and even outbreaks of violence as competing clans lay claim to the land.
That fight has been intensified as communities struggle to deal with the consequences of warming oceans and the devastating impact of natural disasters.
The island, off the village of Gona in Oro province, and accessible by canoe, has gradually formed from three smaller islands over the course of two decades but has only solidified over the past few years.
The island’s emergence from the waves has caused tensions among two local clans, which have taken the matter to village and district courts in a bid to resolve the dispute.
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