Aiming to avoid a humanitarian crisis, Kiribati recently purchased land in Fiji – about 1,200 miles away – where its residents would be relocated in the event that sea-level rise drowns the Pacific island nation and displaces its population of just over 100,000 people.

With the steady creep of the Pacific along its shores, Kiribati, a collection of small atolls, already faces food and water shortages, as seawater contaminates limited supplies of groundwater for the people who live there. Some suspect that their island will be underwater within the next three decades, as sea levels rise about half an inch each year.

That might not sound like much, but the atolls that make up the country sit just a few feet above sea level, and that rise increases the risk of flooding from storms and sea swells.

Kiribati’s government purchased the land from the Church of England for $8.77 million in late May, Inter Press news agency reported. The news is being more widely reported this week.

The strip of land is about 8 square miles in area and heavily forested, according to The Guardian. It’s not clear when the people of Kiribati might begin their migration.

“We would hope not to put everyone […]