Coastal erosion
The Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development (MELAD) is involved in the replanting of mangroves in selected sites to help against coastal erosion; however, much more is required to protect many of the sites eroded on South Tarawa including islets that once were protected with mangrove and iron-wood (tengea) trees. It is unclear how much of the erosion being experienced on South Tarawa is due to sea-level rise and how much is due to human activities (such as building inappropriate seawalls and mining sand and gravel from the beaches and foreshores. Coastal erosion will accelerate in future, due to climate change related sea level rise.