What the World Owes the Marshall Islands

—Greg Vaughn—VW PICS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images This week, the U.N.

General Assembly affirmed that statehood endures the loss of land.

My country, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, will persist despite rising seas.

The question is how Marshallese people go on living here safely.

Our nation consists of narrow strips of land on 29 low-lying coral atolls scattered across more than 750,000 square miles of the central Pacific Ocean.

For many, adapting to rising seas may mean moving communities to higher ground.

In the Marshalls, we have no higher ground to move to.

That fundamental difference shapes what climate adaptation means for us and how we must act.

As we prepare for another El Niño , our people know its rhythms well, but the severity with which these forces now arrive is worsening.

First, the rains come heavily.

Then they stop.

Water tanks empty, wells run dry, crops fail, and ocean conditions shift.

We begin shipping water to communities with none.

These changes are the reality behind the historic diplomatic achievement taking place this week.