Nauru

Republic of Nauru

Flag of Nauru
image_coat =Coat of arms of Nauru.png
national_motto =God's Will First
national_anthem =Nauru Bwiema
Official languages	Nauruan, English
Capital	Yaren
President	Ludwig Scotty
Area Ranked 228th  – Total  – % water	21km²  0
Population Ranked 220th  – Total (2005)	13,005
Currency	Australian dollar
GDP_PPP_rank = 224th
GDP_PPP_per_capita =$5,000 (2005 est.)
Time zone	Universal Time+12
Calling Code	674
Internet TLD	.nr

Nauru (pronounced now-roo), officially the Republic of Nauru, is a small, oval-shaped island in the western Pacific Ocean, 42km south of the Equator. Nauru is the world's smallest island nation, covering just 21 square kilometers (8.1square miles), the smallest independent republic, and the only republican state in the world without an official capital.

Nauru is a phosphate rock island, and its primary economic activity since 1907 has been the export of phosphate mined from the island. With the exhaustion of phosphate reserves, its environment severely degraded by mining, and the trust established to manage the island's wealth significantly reduced in value, in the 1990s Nauru briefly became a tax haven and money-laundering centre to obtain income. Since 2001 it has accepted aid from the Australian government. In exchange, Nauru houses a detention center that holds and processes asylum seekers trying to enter Australia.

Geography

Nauru is positioned in the Nauru Basin of the Pacific Ocean, on a part of the Pacific Plate that formed at a mid oceanic ridge. From about 35million years ago, a submarine volcano built up over a hotspot, and formed a seamount composed of basalt. The seamount is over 4300 meters high. The volcano was eroded to sea level and a coral atoll grew on top to a thickness of about 500 meters. Coral near the surface has been dated from five million years ago. The original limestone has been dolomitised by magnesium from sea water. The coral was raised above sea level about 30 meters, and is now a dolomite limestone outcrop which was eroded in classic karst style into pinnacles up to 20 meters high. To at least a depth of 55 meters below sea level, the limestone has been dissolved forming cavities, sinkholes and caves. Holes on the topside of the island were filled up by a phosphate layer up to several meters thick.

An aerial image of Nauru in 2002 from the U.S. Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program. Regenerated vegetation covers 63 percent of land that was mined.

The island is surrounded by a coral reef, exposed at low tide and dotted with pinnacles. The reef is bound seaward by deep water, and inside by a sandy beach. The reef has prevented the establishment of a seaport, although 16 artificial canals have been made in the reef to allow small boats to access. Coral cliffs surround the central plateau, known as Topside. The highest point of the plateau is 65 meters (213 feet) above sea level.

The nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in the Republic of Kiribati, 300 kilometers due east. Its land area is 21km² and it has a 30km coastline. Maritime claims are a 370km (200 nautical mile) exclusive fishing zone, and a 22km (12 nautical mile) territorial sea.

Nauru's climate is hot and extremely humid year-round, because of the proximity of the land to the Equator and the ocean. Monsoon rains, between November and February, bring variable annual rainfall that is influenced by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Droughts have been recorded. The temperature ranges between 26 and 35 °C (79 and 95 °F) during the day and between 25 and 28 °C (77 and 82 °F) at night.

The island has no rivers or substantial lakes. There are limited natural fresh water resources. Roof tanks collect rainwater, but islanders are mostly dependent on a single, aging desalination plant.

There are only 60 plant species native to the island, none of which is endemic. Coconut farming, mining and introduced species have caused serious disturbance to the native vegetation. There are no native land mammals, but there are native birds, including the endemic Nauru Reed Warbler, insects and land crabs. The Polynesian Rat, cats, dogs, pigs and chickens have been introduced to the island.

The only fertile areas are the narrow coastal belt, where coconut palms flourish. The land surrounding Buada Lagoon supports bananas, pineapples, vegetable, pandanus trees and indigenous hardwoods, such as the tomano tree, are cultivated. The population of about 13,000 is concentrated in this coastal belt and around Buada Lagoon.

Nauru's only natural resources are phosphates, formed from guano deposits by seabirds over many thousands of years. Nauru was one of three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean (the others are Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati and Makatea in French Polynesia). However, the phosphate reserves are nearly depleted. Phosphate mining in the central plateau has left a barren terrain of jagged limestone pinnacles up to 15 meters (49 feet) high. A century of mining has stripped and devastated four-fifths of the land area. Mining has harmed the surrounding exclusive economic zone with 40 percent of marine life killed by silt and phosphate run-off.

Aiwo, a district and constituency located in the west of the island, covers an area of 1.1 km² and a population of 1300. Sometimes, it is called the unofficial capital city of Nauru. Even though Nauru does not have an official capital city, it is more common for Yaren to be cited as such.

In this district is: the Aiue Boulevard, the New Boat Port, the Chinatown of the island, a youth hostel, the power house, the Nauru Local Government Council chambers and offices, and the Nauru Phosphate Corporation processing facilities and cantilever.

History

Nauru annexed in 1888 by Germany

Micronesian and Polynesian peoples first settled Nauru at least 3000 years ago. There were traditionally 12 clans or tribes on Nauru, which are represented in the 12-pointed star in the nation's flag. The Nauruan people called their island "Naoero"; the word "Nauru" was later created from "Naoero" so that English language speakers could easily pronounce the name. Naurans subsisted on coconut and Pandanus fruit, and caught juvenile milkfish, acclimatized them to fresh water conditions and raised them in Buada Lagoon, providing an additional reliable source of food. Traditionally, only men were permitted to fish on the reef, and did so from canoes or by using trained man-of-war hawks.

British Captain John Fearn, a whale hunter, became the first Westerner to visit the island in 1798, and named it Pleasant Island. From around the 1830s, Nauruans had contact with Europeans from whaling ships and traders who replenished their supplies at the island. Around this time, beachcombers and deserters began to live on the island. The islanders traded food for alcoholic palm wine, known as toddy, and firearms.

The firearms were used during the 10-year Nauruan Tribal War that began in 1878 in a dispute at a wedding celebration when a handgun was fired and a young chief was inadvertently shot dead. The drunken, often mindless fighting reduced the population from 1400 to 900 persons.

Germany annexed the island on April 16, 1888, arrested the surviving chiefs, and banned both alcohol and firearms, thus ending the tribal war. The island was incorporated into Germany's Marshall Islands Protectorate. They called the island Nawodo or Onawero. The war established kings as rulers of the island, the most widely known being King Auweyida.

A Catholic missionary and a Congregational minister from the Gilbert Islands arrived at the island in 1888. Those two denominations continued to dominate.

New Zealand prospector Albert Ellis discovered phosphate on the island in 1900. The Pacific Phosphate Company started to exploit the reserves in 1906 by agreement with Germany, and exported their first shipment in 1907.

Following the outbreak of World War I, Australian forces captured the island in 1914. After the war, the League of Nations gave the United Kingdom a trustee mandate over the territory, which it agreed to share with Australian and New Zealand in 1923. The three governments signed a Nauru Island Agreement in 1919, creating a board known as the British Phosphate Commission (BPC), which took over the rights to phosphate mining.

Nauru Island under attack by B-24 Liberator bombers of the US Seventh Air Force

During World War II Japan occupied Nauru from August 1942. The Japanese-built airfield on the island was bombed in March 1943, preventing food supplies from reaching the island. The Japanese deported 1200 Nauruans to work as labourers in the Chuuk islands, where 463 died. Those left on Nauru suffered severe privation, including starvation and bombing by the Americans for two years. The island was liberated on September 13, 1945, when the Australian warship HMAS Diamantina approached the island and Japanese forces surrendered. Arrangements were made by the phosphate commission to repatriate Nauruans from Chuuk, and they were returned to Nauru by the phosphate ship Trienza in January 1946. At the end of the war, the island was a mass of military litter, almost totally lacking in food supplies.

In 1947, a trusteeship was approved by the United Nations, and Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom again became trustees of the island. Nauru became self-governing in January 1966, and following a two-year constitutional convention, became independent in 1968, led by founding president Hammer DeRoburt. In 1967, the people of Nauru purchased the assets of the British Phosphate Commissioners, and in June 1970, control passed to the locally owned Nauru Phosphate Corporation. Income from the exploitation of phosphate gave Nauruans one of the highest living standards in the Pacific.

In 1989 the country took legal action against Australia in the International Court of Justice over Australia's actions during its administration of Nauru, in particular, Australia's failure to remedy the environmental damage caused by phosphate mining. The action led to a sizeable out-of-court settlement to rehabilitate the mined-out areas of Nauru.

Diminishing phosphate reserves has led to economic decline in Nauru, which has brought increasing political instability since the mid-1980s. Nauru had 17 changes of administration between 1989 and 2003. Between 1999 and 2003, a series of no-confidence votes and elections resulted in two people, René Harris and Bernard Dowiyogo, leading the country for alternating periods. Dowiyogo died in office in March 2003 and Ludwig Scotty was elected President. Scotty was re-elected to serve a full term in October 2004.

In recent times, a significant proportion of the country's income has come in the form of aid from Australia. In 2001, the MV Tampa, a ship which had rescued 460 refugees (from various countries including Afghanistan) from a stranded 20-metre (65 ft) boat and was seeking to dock in Australia, was diverted to Nauru as part of a policy termed “the Pacific Solution.” Nauru continues to operate the Nauru detention centre in exchange for Australian aid. However, as of November 2005, Australian media reported that only two asylum seekers remained on Nauru.

Politics

Nauru is a republic with a parliamentary system of government. The president is both the head of state and head of government. An 18-member unicameral parliament is elected every three years. The parliament elects a president from its members, who appoint a cabinet of five to six members. Nauru does not have a formal structure for political parties. Candidates typically stand as independents. Fifteen of the 18 members of the current parliament are independents, and alliances within the government are often formed on the basis of extended family ties. Three parties active in Nauruan politics are the Democratic Party of Nauru, Nauru First and the (Nauru) Centre Party.

Since 1992, local government has been the responsibility of the Nauru Island Council, which has limited powers and functions as an advisor to the national government on local matters. The council’s role is to concentrate its efforts on local activities relevant to Nauruans. An elected member of the Nauru Island Council cannot simultaneously be a member of parliament.

Land tenure in Nauru is unusual. All Nauruans have certain rights to all land on the island, which is owned by individuals and family groups; government and corporate entities do not own land and must enter into a lease arrangement with the landowners to use land. Non-Nauruans cannot own lands.

Nauru has a complex legal system. The Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice, is paramount on constitutional issues. Other cases can be appealed to the two-judge Appellate Court. Parliament cannot overturn court decisions, but Appellate Court rulings can be appealed to the High Court of Australia. In practice, this rarely happens. Lower courts consist of the District Court and the Family Court, both of which are headed by a Resident Magistrate, who also is the Registrar of the Supreme Court. Finally, there also are two quasi-courts: the Public Service Appeal Board and the Police Appeal Board, both of which are presided over by the Chief Justice.

Nauru has no armed forces; under an informal agreement, defence is the responsibility of Australia. There is a small police force under civilian control.

Map of Nauru

Nauru is divided into 14 administrative districts which are grouped into eight electoral constituencies. The districts are: Aiwo, Anabar, Anetan, Anibare, Baiti, Boe, Buada, Denigomodu, Ewa, Ijuw, Meneng, Nibok, Uaboe, and Yaren.

The national day, Angam Day, held on October 26 each year, celebrates the recovery of the Nauran population after the two world wars, both of which reduced the indigenous population to fewer than 1500.

In terms of foreign relations, after independence in 1968, Nauru joined the Commonwealth as a Special Member, and became a full member in 2000. Nauru was admitted to the Asian Development Bank in 1991 and to the UN in 1999. It is a member of the Pacific Islands Forum, the South Pacific Regional Environmental Program, the South Pacific Commission, and the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission. The United States Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program operates a climate-monitoring facility on the island.

Nauru and Australia have close diplomatic ties. In addition to informal defence arrangements, the September 2005 Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries provides Nauru with financial aid and technical assistance, including a Secretary of Finance to prepare Nauru's budget, and advisers on health and education. This aid is in return for Nauru's housing of asylum seekers while their applications for entry into Australia are processed. Nauru uses the Australian dollar as its official currency.

Nauru has used its position as a member of the UN to gain financial support from both Taiwan and the People's Republic of China by changing its position on the political status of Taiwan. During 2002, Nauru signed an agreement to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China on July 21, 2002. This move followed China's promise to provide more than US$60-million in aid. In response, Taiwan severed diplomatic relations with Nauru two days later. Nauru later re-established links with Taiwan on May 14, 2005, and diplomatic ties with China were officially severed on May 31, 2005. However, China continues to maintain a diplomatic presence in the island nation.

Economy

Limestone pinnacles remain after phosphate mining

A ship being loaded with phosphate in Nauru

Nauru's economy depends almost entirely on declining phosphate deposits; there are few other resources, and most necessities are imported. Small-scale mining is still conducted by the NPC. The government places a percentage of the Nauru Phosphate Commission's earnings in the Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust. The trust manages long-term investments, intended to support the citizens once the phosphate reserves have been exhausted. However, a history of bad investments, financial mismanagement, overspending and corruption has reduced the trust's fixed and current assets. For example, Nauru House in Melbourne, Australia, was sold in 2004 to finance debts and Air Nauru's last Boeing 737 was repossessed in December 2005. The value of the trust is estimated to have shrunk from A$1300-million in 1991 to A$138-million in 2002. By the early 21st century, Nauru lacked money to perform many of the basic functions of government, the national Bank of Nauru was insolvent, and GDP per capita had fallen to US$5000 per annum.

There are no personal taxes in Nauru, and the government employs 95 percent of those Nauruans who work. Unemployment is estimated to be 90 percent.

The Asian Development Bank notes that although the administration has a strong public mandate to implement economic reforms, in the absence of an alternative to phosphate mining, the medium-term outlook is for continued dependence on external assistance. The sale of deep-sea fishing rights may generate some revenue. Tourism is not a major contributor to the economy, because there are few facilities for tourists. The Menen Hotel and OD-N-Aiwo Hotel are the only hotels on the island.

In the 1990s, Nauru became a tax haven and offered passports to foreign nationals for a fee. It became a favourite spot for the dirty money of the Russian mafia. A no-questions-asked policy enabled an estimated US$70-billion dollars worth of assets belonging to Russian gangsters to be funnelled to Nauru. The inter-governmental Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering then identified Nauru as one of 15 "non-cooperative" countries in its fight against money laundering. Under pressure from the task force, Nauru introduced anti-avoidance legislation in 2003, following which foreign hot money flowed out of the country. In October 2005, this legislation—and its effective enforcement—led the task force to lift the non-cooperative designation.

Exports totalled $64,000 in 2005, the sole commodity being phosphate, to South Africa 56.4 percent, India 15.3 percent, South Korea 6.7 percent, and Canada 5.8 percent. Imports of food, fuel, manufactures, building materials, machinery, from South Korea 43.4 percent, Australia 35.8 percent, US 5.9 percent, and Germany 4.3 percent totalled $20-million in 2004. With and external debt of US$33.3-million, Nauru receives economic aid from Australia.

Demographics

Nauruan districts of Denigomodu and Nibok

Nauruans are descended from Polynesian and Micronesian seafarers. Two of the 12 original tribal groups became extinct in the 20th century. Of the island's 13,048 residents, 58 percent are Nauruan, 26 percent other Pacific Islanders, 8 percent Chinese and 8 percent Europeans.

An increased standard of living since independence has accelerated obesity. Besides rice, as the basic staple, and fish, which is said to contribute to a high rate of obesity, traditional Nauruan cuisine is nearly nonexistent and seldom eaten, as western “junk food” has prevailed across the island. With refrigeration and microwave ovens, Nauruans face the same culinary dilemmas plagueing the developed world. Nauruans are among the most obese people in the world, with 90 percent of adults overweight. Nauru has the world's highest level of type-two diabetes, with more than 40 percent of the population affected. Other significant diet-related problems on Nauru include renal failure and heart disease. Life expectancy has fallen to 58 years for males and 65 years for females.

The Nauruan indigenous religion is a monotheistic system of belief that includes a female deity called Eijebong and an island of spirits called Buitani. Believers say that a spider called Areop-Enap created the sky and the earth. There are few, if any, people on the island who still subscribe to this mythology, because of the many Westernizing influences on Nauruan lifestyle and the dominant belief of Christianity. Two-thirds of the island’s Christians are Protestant, and one-third are Roman Catholic). The Catholic Church provides a secondary school, while the Congregational Church, which is the national church, has a major church in the center of the downtown area and smaller churches in the districts.

The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the government has restricted the practice of religion by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and members of Jehovah's Witnesses, most of whom are foreign workers employed by the Nauru Phosphate Corporation.

The official language of Nauru is Nauruan (or dorerin Naoero) a distinct Pacific island language of the Micronesian family of the Austronesian language group. There was a diversity of dialects until Nauru became a colony of Germany in 1888, and until the introduction of publication of the first texts written in Nauruan. The variations were so different that people of various districts often had problems understanding each other. With the influence of foreign languages and the increase of Nauruan texts, the dialects blended into a standardized language, which was promoted through dictionaries and translations by Alois Kayser and Philip Delaporte, who in 1907, published his pocket German-Nauruan dictionary. In 1938 there was an attempt by the Nauruan language committee to make the language easier to understand for Europeans and Americans. It is estimated that Nauruan has 7000 speakers, approximately 50 percent of the population. Almost all speakers are bilingual in English, which is the language of government and commerce.

A matrilineal social system gives women a lot of power, so they lead behind the scenes, while men take the political roles in government. Civil Service consists of mostly male heads with women seeking these jobs in the past 20 years. Two of the diplomats in overseas postings have been women. Most primary school teachers are women, while men are active in phosphate management.

National identity as Nauruan remains strong, and can be claimed only by those born of a Nauruan mother. Failure to register a child at birth as Nauruan eliminates that person from the entitlements of being Nauruan, particularly access to land rights, and to shares in phosphate revenue. A child of a Nauruan father, but whose mother is of another nationality must seek special permission to be registered as Naruan.

Nauruans are proudly democratic and denounce two classes that formerly marked their society. The “temonibe” and “amenengame” classes consisted of the senior matrilineage as opposed to those in the junior matrilineages. These two classes were distinguished from the “itsio,” or slave class, which included those who arrived on Nauru from outside and had no land holdings. Heads of lineages were drawn from the temonibe class. A chiefly system instituted in 1927 was replaced in 1951 by the Nauru Local Government Council that consists of elected members.

Culture

The 1999 Australian rules football grand final, played at Linkbelt Oval

Literacy on the island is 97 percent, education is compulsory for children from six to 15 years of age (years one–ten), and two non-compulsory years are taught (years 11 and 12). There is a campus of the University of the South Pacific on the island. Before the campus was built, students travelled to Australia for their university education.

The displacement of the indigenous culture by colonial and contemporary, western influences is palpable. Little of the old customs have been preserved, although some forms of traditional music and arts and crafts, and some traditional methods of fishing are still practised. The Nauruan people wear the usual tropical clothes: short trousers and light shirts.

Music and dance still rank among the most popular art forms. Rhythmic singing and traditional reigen are performed particularly at celebrations. Craftsmen make articles of clothing and fans of Kokosfasern and the sheets of the screw tree and use geometrical samples, which resemble those of the Indonesian culture. Also the wood of the kokospalme is used for the production of arts and crafts.

Fishing still follows a traditional method: the island anglers wait in small light boats for fish to arrive. A traditional activity is catching Noddy (tern) birds when they return from foraging at sea. At sunset, men stand on the beach ready to throw their lasso at the incoming birds. The Nauruan lasso is supple rope with a weight at the end. When a bird approaches, the lasso is thrown up, hits and or drapes itself over the bird, and then falls to the ground. The captured noddies are cooked and eaten.

Radio Nauru has collected numerous recordings of local people's music. But even old Nauruans can rarely understand the contents of these songs. Nauruans have revived their interest in their history. The Department of Education has produced a history from a Nauruan perspective and a Nauruan dictionary. Writers were encouraged, through the University of the South Pacific Extension Centre on Nauru, to produce stories, poems, and songs. Throughout the twentieth century, poems were written to commemorate historical events and the culture of Nauru.

There is no daily news publication, although there are several weekly or fortnightly publications, including the Bulletin, the Central Star News and The Nauru Chronicle. There is a state-owned television station, Nauru Television (NTV) that broadcasts programs from New Zealand, and there is a state-owned non-commercial radio station, Radio Nauru, which carries items from Radio Australia and the BBC.

Australian rules football is the most popular sport in Nauru. There is an Australian rules football elite national league with seven teams. All games are played at the island's only stadium, Linkbelt Oval. Other sports include softball, cricket, golf, sailing and soccer. Nauru participates in the Commonwealth Games and Summer Olympic Games, where it has been successful in weightlifting—Marcus Stephen has been a prominent medallist. He was elected to parliament in 2003.

Issues

Drunk driving, particularly by young Nauruan men is a serious problem and the leading cause of death on the island.

Nauruans grew up under a broad welfare system in which phosphate profits paid for housing, education, health care, and the public service. That system was terminated in 1986, and older Nauruans found it hard to live under the new regime, especially those whose lands were mined early. Nauruans have been asking the government for money from the trust funds, and this has caused political antagonism.

Concerns about payouts from the Trust Funds led to a sit-in by women across the airport runway in 1993 at the time the Pacific Forum leaders were arriving. That reaction resulted in those women being fined, some lost their jobs, and the leaders were arrested.

There is no jail as such on the island. Serious criminal offenders may be incarcerated in an Australian jail.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

This article incorporates public domain text from the websites of the United States Department of State & CIA World Factbook.

McDaniel, C. N. and Gowdy, J. M. 2000. Paradise for Sale. University of California Press ISBN 0520222296

Ellis, A. F. 1935. Ocean Island and Nauru - their story. Angus and Robertson Limited.

Haden, J. D. 2000. Nauru: a middle ground in World War II Pacific Magazine URL Accessed 2006-05-05

Garrett, J. 1996. Island Exiles. ABC. ISBN 0-7333-0485-0. pp176-181

Highet, K and Kahale, H. 1993. Certain Phosphate Lands in Nauru. The American Journal of International Law 87:282-288

"Paradise well and truly lost", The Economist, 20 December 2001

King, H. and Rewers M. 1993. Diabetes in adults is now a Third World problem. World Health Organization Ad Hoc Diabetes Reporting Group. Ethnicity & Disease 3:S67-74.

External links

• Open Directory Project - Nauru directory category
• Nauru, Permanent Mission to the United Nations
• Radio program "This American Life" featured a 30-minute story on Nauru
• Air Nauru
• Air Nauru Flight Schedule
• CenPac - The ISP of the Republic of Nauru
• high resolution aerial views of Nauru on Google Maps

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