New Delhi: The rapid rise in sea level and global warming has forced the residents of a tiny native American village to abandon their ancestral home and move to the mainland.
Locals of Shishmaref village held a special election on 16th of August over whether to relocate or stay after watching how rising sea is destroying their home and eroding large parts of their lands.
Shishmaref village is mainly inhabited by Inupiat community of about 650 people. According to CNN reports, out of 169 registered voters eighty-nine people voted to move Shishmaref to the Alaska mainland while 78 voted to stay and fight the rising tide.
"Our community on this island has seen artifacts about 500 years old," Shishmaref council's secretary, Donna Barr, told CNN.
This small isolated village is pretty close to Arctic circle and is only accessible by airplane, boat, and snowmobile. For decades, the villagers have been watching how global warming is destroying sea ice and the permafrost, resulting in more coastal erosion as the sea waters eat up the barrier island.
The total cost of relocation is estimated some $180 million and it could take more than 10 years to complete the process, as per a local media.
