Land rehabilitation plan

Much of the elevated land on Nauru, 15 of its total land area of 21 square kilometres, has been rendered unusable by mining, but there have long been hopes that it can be restored, for farming and habitation.

Over the past two years preliminary work has been done by the Pacific Community on a project the Nauru Government said will be the biggest undertaken on the island.

A New Zealand engineering consultancy, Calibre Consulting, is now being brought in to consider the options that have been developed.

A video released by the government this week explains how phosphate mining on the island's central plateau has scarred the landscape leaving hard rock pinnacles that can't be built on or farmed.

As rising sea levels force Nauru's population to retreat to higher ground in the interior, the chairman of the Nauru Rehabilitation Corporation, Peter Jacob, says the country's future depends on remediating the land.

"That needs to leveled either through demolishing those rocks to make it smooth, or back filling with soil, or a combination of both."

A video released by the government this week explains how phosphate mining on the island's central plateau has scarred the landscape leaving hard rock pinnacles that can't be built on or farmed.

As rising sea levels force Nauru's population to retreat to higher ground in the interior, the chairman of the Nauru Rehabilitation Corporation, Peter Jacob, says the country's future depends on remediating the land.

"That needs to leveled either through demolishing those rocks to make it smooth, or back filling with soil, or a combination of both."