According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), sea-level rise is expected to threaten vital infrastructure and structures supporting the livelihood of many Pacific island communities. By the middle of the 21st century, climate change is expected to reduce their water supplies to the point where they become insufficient to meet demand in low rain periods. Already a significant numbers of people in the Carteret Islands of Papua New Guinea are preparing to evacuate to Bougainville in 2008, and scientists suggest that these islands and the Pacific nations of Tuvalu and Kiribati are at risk of disappearing altogether
by the middle of the century.