The land mass of some islands has increased over the past six decades, not decreased, so talk about islands being inundated by sea level rise is rubbish.
Fact:
The land mass of some atolls has indeed increased over the past half century, but this is not evidence that climate change poses no threat. Tuvalu, for example, has seen an increase in its land mass of 2.9 percent over the past few decades. The reason is that waves, storms and tides push sand, gravel and coral debris onto the islands’ shores. That’s how the islands were formed in the first place. However, while they might be growing out, they are not growing up, meaning they are still negatively impacted by sea level rise, just like non-coral islands like Fiji. And with sea levels expected to rise by a metre this century if we don’t cut our carbon emissions, sediment-based land expansion will be overwhelmed and coral atolls will indeed start to disappear.