02.27.03 - 7:13 p.m.

On NPR this evening, there was a brief story about the independent island nation of Nauru, which is the smallest self-governing island nation in the world, out in the South Pacific. Apparently, 10-20 years ago, Nauru was the most prosperous nation in the South Pacific, thanks to extensive deposits of phosphorous, which were mined and sold to Australia and Europe.

Now, the phosphorous is played out, and the country is broke, a serious problem since they have to import everything, including fresh water. Moreover, the island nation of 12,000 people has been cut off from telephone communications for at least the last three weeks. Australia is sending technicians to fix the phone system now, but...

...man, can you imagine living on this little island, in the middle of nowhere, dependent on imports to survive, with your only exportable resource gone, your environment ruined, and no phone system?

I looked up Nauru and found some links - love geography. This is a quote from the Lonely Planet Guide describing the island, which you can walk around in a day.

This roughly rectangular Pacific island nods its cap toward the north-east and blows out on its south-east shore, vaguely reminiscent of a downcast face in profile. Nauru's closest neighbour is Banaba in Kiribati, 306km (190mi) to the east. It lies 41km (25.5mi) south of the equator and is nearly 4000km (2480mi) north-east of Sydney, Australia. Nauru is the smallest republic in the world - think of seven New York City Central Parks dropped in the middle of the Pacific just south of the equator (with the skaters taken in for questioning and the topsoil scraped off), and you've got a rough idea of its size. There's a small section of vegetation around Buada Lagoon and a green fringe 50m to 100m (165ft to 328ft) around the coast where the bulk of the population lives, but the rest is either open-cut phosphate mine or a mined-out wasteland of mind-boggling proportions. As wastelands go, it is the wasteland to end them all, with weird coral monoliths punching their way out of cavernous pits, totally bereft of topsoil and baked hard under the equatorial sun. Nothing stirs except dust and packs of wild dogs. The rocks heat up and create their own microclimate, dispelling rain clouds and exacerbating the island's chronic water shortage. The central plateau (commonly called 'topside') rises 70m (230ft) above sea level.

Here's more about Nauru, if anyone's interested:

Lonely Plant Guide to Nauru: Excellent information.

Ocean 98 Guide to Nauru: Some pictures of the blasted landscape left by the phosphorous mining. The phosphorous is now played out, and the possibility of rebuilding the island's environment? Who knows. There's also a map that locates Nauru in the South Pacific. The site also has the text of Nauru's national anthem, in the native language, which is unique to the island.

Someone's page from a vacation in Nauru. More pictures of the devasted central plane, the old played out un-reclaimed phosphorous mines.

US State Department's Travel Information Page Less comprehensive than more of the others. Still somewhat interesting.