Otherwise, Nauruans are likely to pay a severe price in the medium term while the reform measures are being implemented. Secondary and technical education needs are areas requiring immediate attention to enable Nauruans to seek alternate employment. The strip-mining methods employed in the extraction of phosphate for some 90 years have devastated the environment. The natural vegetation and topsoil have been removed from over 70 percent of the land area, primarily at the center of the island, thus preventing the dispersal of a rapidly-increasing population from the coastal fringe, heightening land pressures and disputes around that fringe, and possibly causing microclimate deterioration. Phosphate dust may have health implications, as it aggravates the corrosive qualities of salt-laden air.
Soil rehabilitation needs to be undertaken to regenerate cultivable land in Nauru.
Subsistence agriculture can then be promoted. It will not only provide subsistence income, but improve health through change of dietary habits, since to date there remains a dire shortage of fresh fruits and vegetables. Environmental issues remain an important agenda of the Government especially the impact of global warming on sea levels.