Climate change is revealing some of the strangest things on the planet. The most recent headline find is a World War II grave in the Marshall Islands that was unveiled as the tides on the islands continue to fluctuate at levels never before seen.
The country's Foreign Minister Tony de Brum announced the revelation that highlights the odd side of how climate change is changing the natural landscape.
Speaking at the United Nation's climate discussions meeting in Bonn, Germany, de Burn said high tides in the Pacific island country have exposed some 26 bodies of Japanese soldiers dating to WW II.
"These last spring tides in February to April this year have caused not just inundation and flooding of communities but have also undermined regular land, so that even the dead are affected," de Brum said, speaking to reporters at the U.N. climate negotiations.
During the war, Japan occupied the Marshall Islands before its soldiers were pushed out by the American forces as the war in the Pacific heated up. The islands have also been used as a nuclear bomb testing ground and a number of the islands are inhabitable as a result of the radiation.
And now, the problems of climate change are beginning to take a toll on this small islands country.
Sea level rises as a result of ice melting on the poles threatens the 70,000 people living on the islands if efforts are not made to stop the erosion. Salt is also coming in farther and farther inland on many of the islands, which has made much of the land infertile and unable to grow crops.
A recent published report by the United Nations Environment Program says sea level rises in the Pacific, of which the Marshall Islands was specifically mentioned, has seen an increase at about 12 mm annually, compared with the global average of 3.2 mm. This means that the Marshall Islands are facing extinction if carbon emissions and sea level rising cannot be stopped.
Like many other global leaders, de Brum has urged countries to work consciously to end the ongoing use of products and other aspects of daily life that boost carbon emissions into the atmosphere. He and the U.N. have repeatedly said that unless the world makes a concerted effort to change the status quo on carbon emissions and greenhouse gases, the planet is heading into a "game over" situation.
And with it, more strange and unusual finds like the Japanese soldiers could become more commonplace around the world.
