http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7296832.stm

Quote :

"Nauru seeks to regain lost fortunes By Nick Squires BBC, Nauru There are not many countries you can bicycle around before breakfast. One of the very few is Nauru, a Pacific island nation halfway between Australia and Hawaii. Dubbed Pleasant Island in the 18th Century by the captain of a passing British ship - it is the world's smallest independent republic, a coral speck dwarfed by the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. On most assignments, one of the first tasks is to hire a car. On Nauru, it didn't really seem worth the bother, I opted instead for a battered mountain bike. It took me about an hour and a half to cycle the narrow coast road, sweating profusely beneath the fierce equatorial sun. Before I knew it, I was back where I started. I had just circumnavigated the entire country. Nauru may be little, but it once enjoyed enormous wealth. In fact Nauruans were among the richest people, per capita, in the world. Hardly anyone thought of investing the money. Dollar notes were even used as toilet paper. A quirk of nature means that their island consists of some of the world's purest phosphate - the legacy of millions of years of sea bird droppings reacting with an uplifted coral. Spending spree From independence from Britain and Australia in 1968, until the 1990s, Nauru earned a fortune exporting its phosphate for fertiliser. The decades of mining left the once-lush interior a bleak moonscape of strange, grey coral spikes - all that is left once the phosphate-rich top soil is scooped out of the ground - but Nauruans did not care. They gave up their jobs, brought in migrants from other Pacific islands to do the hot, dirty work of digging and sat back waiting for the royalty cheques to drop into their hands. They then went on an extraordinary spending spree. Families who had never left the island would charter aircraft to take them on shopping expeditions in Hawaii, Fiji and Singapore. Sports cars were imported, despite the fact that Nauru has only one paved road and the speed limit is 25mph. A police chief memorably bought a sleek yellow Lamborghini, only to find he was too portly to fit in the driver's seat. "We just didn't know how to handle it all," a barefoot islander told me as he played his guitar beneath a tree. "Hardly anyone thought of investing the money. Dollar notes were even used as toilet paper," his friend told me. "It's true," he insisted seeing my look of disbelief. "It was like every day was party day." A procession of conmen and carpetbaggers persuaded successive governments to invest in a string of bizarre schemes, including a West End musical about the life of Leonardo da Vinci. Nauru amassed a property portfolio of hotels and office blocks around the world. But corruption and downright incompetence took their toll and by the early part of this century, most of the assets had to be sold off to pay for the country's mounting debts. Now all the money is gone. Angry islanders Signs of Nauru's former wealth are few and far between. Homes are dilapidated, with holes punched through their walls. An area known as Location is one of the most squalid slums I have come across in the South Pacific, a concrete ghetto of smashed windows, stray dogs and graffiti. We're doing our best to climb out of it. It won't be like in our heyday, but at least we'll be comfortable Marcus Stephen, Nauru president The brand new cars which islanders bought are rusted wrecks smothered in tropical undergrowth. Last week a mob of angry islanders burnt down Nauru's only prison in what the government said was politically motivated unrest orchestrated by a former president. Now comes another blow to this Micronesian micro-nation. A refugee detention centre, set up by Australia seven years ago, will close down at the end of this month. It was built by the government of Prime Minister John Howard at a time when hundreds of boat people were trying to reach Australia. It proved a huge vote-winner, but Mr Howard was turfed out in November and his successor, Labour Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, swiftly moved to shut it down. Nauruans are distraught - the facility brought much-needed jobs and hundreds of big-spending contractors, police and officials. Despite all these trials, Nauru is determined to get back on its feet. A new reformist government is hatching plans to establish the island as a pit-stop for international tuna boats to refuel and repair. A mining company hopes to extract precious metals from the surrounding sea-bed. Phosphate mining has resumed with the government claiming there is another 30 years of reserves up in the scarred interior. Hangover "We find ourselves in a big hole," concedes newly-elected president and former weight-lifting champion, Marcus Stephen. "We're doing our best to climb out of it. It won't be like in our heyday, but at least we'll be comfortable." Nauruans realise that the party is well and truly over. Now comes the hangover and then, with luck, some sort of recovery. But it will take squeaky clean governance, hard work and rock-solid investments for Pleasant Island to once again live up to its name. It may not yet be paradise lost, but it is most definitely paradise postponed. "

Wow... this is the first time I have heard of this. I knew that Nauru was an island in the Pacific... but not much else.

Would be surreal to have been there when it was filthy rich, and to go again now and see slums and destitution.

3/16/2008 7:45:14 AM

yeah, i heard about this a couple of months back, it was a feature on This American Life

severely fucked up.

That article doesn't even get into the Afghan refugee situation from a few years back.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEED71039F937A35757C0A9629C8B63

3/16/2008 7:50:50 AM

both articles are interesting reads

and chembob is still a dickriding chode

3/16/2008 9:10:01 AM

obvious statements are obvious

3/16/2008 9:11:49 AM

The article left me wanting more pics

3/16/2008 1:57:14 PM

http://wikitravel.org/en/Nauru

I don't see myself going.

3/16/2008 2:22:57 PM

^ 10 times more informative:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauru

Stuff I found fascinating: (all you need to know about the country actually, is below!)

Quote :

"Nauru is the world's smallest island nation, covering just 21 km² (8.1 sq. mi), the smallest independent republic, and the only republican state in the world without an official capital.[1] It is the least populous member of the United Nations."

Quote :

"In the 1990s, Nauru briefly became a tax haven and money laundering center."

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"Nauru was first inhabited by Micronesian and Polynesian people at least 3,000 years ago.[4] There were traditionally 12 clans or tribes on Nauru, which are represented in the 12-pointed star in the nation's flag."

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"Diminishing phosphate reserves has led to economic decline in Nauru, which has brought increasing political instability since the mid-1980s. Nauru had 17 changes of administration between 1989 and 2003."

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"Land tenure in Nauru is unusual: all Nauruans have certain rights to all land on the island, which is owned by individuals and family groups; government and corporate entities do not own land and must enter into a lease arrangement with the landowners to use land."

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"Nauru has used its position as a member of the UN to gain financial support from both Taiwan and the People's Republic of China by changing its position on the political status of Taiwan. During 2002, Nauru signed an agreement to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China on 21 July. This move followed China's promise to provide more than US$60 million in aid. In response, Taiwan severed diplomatic relations with Nauru two days later. Nauru later re-established links with Taiwan on 14 May 2005,[24] and diplomatic ties with China were officially severed on 31 May 2005; however, the PRC continues to maintain a diplomatic presence in the island nation."

Quote :

"Phosphate mining in the central plateau has left a barren terrain of jagged limestone pinnacles up to 15 m (49 ft) high. A century of mining has stripped and devastated four-fifths of the land area."

Quote :

"The government places a percentage of the NPC's earnings in the Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust. The Trust manages long-term investments, intended to support the citizens once the phosphate reserves have been exhausted. However, a history of bad investments, financial mismanagement, overspending and corruption has reduced the Trust's fixed and current assets. The value of the Trust is estimated to have shrunk from A$1,300 million in 1991 to A$138 million in 2002."

DAMN Almost any idiot could have managed it better!

Quote :

"Nauru currently lacks money to perform many of the basic functions of government, the national Bank of Nauru is insolvent, and GDP per capita has fallen to US$2038 per annum, according to the ADB.[30] In the early 1980s Nauru had the highest GDP per capita in the world."

Quote :

"There are no personal taxes in Nauru, and the government employs 95% of those Nauruans who work; unemployment is estimated to be 90%."

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"Tourism is not a major contributor to the economy, because there are few facilities for tourists; the Menen Hotel and OD-N-Aiwo Hotel are the only hotels on the island."

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"In the 1990s, Nauru became a tax haven and offered passports to foreign nationals for a fee. The inter-governmental Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) then identified Nauru as one of 15 "non-cooperative" countries in its fight against money laundering."

Quote :

"An increased standard of living since independence has had some negative effects on the population. Nauruans are among the most obese people in the world, with 90% of adults overweight.[36] Nauru has the world's highest level of type 2 diabetes, with more than 40% of the population affected.[37] Other significant diet-related problems on Nauru include renal failure and heart disease. Life expectancy has fallen to 58.0 years for males and 65.0 years for females."

Quote :

"Nauru's two best tennis players, David Detudamo and his sister Angelita Detudamo, are currently under athletic scholarships in the United States. David plays for Cameron University in Oklahoma and Angelita plays for Collin County Community College in Texas."

Oh, and here is the most fascinating thing:







ALMOST ALL PEOPLE LIVE ONLY IN THE GREEN AREAS IN THE 1st PIC (coast + around lagoon).

Most of the rest of the country, i.e., the vast majority of the area (orange in 1st pic), looks like this, and is thus, inhabitable:






As someone smart once said...

Quote :

"I don't see myself going."

3/16/2008 4:27:11 PM

how do you even begin to make good use of the mined land as a nation?

3/16/2008 5:55:10 PM

Bombing range...

3/19/2008 3:18:01 PM

Rock climbing destination.

3/19/2008 4:24:58 PM

It'd be fun to hit some golf balls there.

Or hunt a human.

3/19/2008 4:29:40 PM

could use is as a setting in some cheap sci fi movie

3/19/2008 5:05:11 PM

as bobbydigital mentioned, there was a really good this american life episode about Nauru, which can be heard here --> http://thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=253

3/19/2008 5:23:30 PM

The money didn't squander itself.
The holes in walls didn't punch themselves.
The cars didn't wreck themselves.
The graffiti didn't spray itself.
The windows didn't smash themselves.
The island didn't mine itself.

Sounds like a lot of bad management. I'm sure there were some people who saw nothing for all the damage that was done. I do feel bad for them, but someone should have been smart enough to look around and realize the mining couldn't go on forever.

3/19/2008 5:48:05 PM

^^

3/19/2008 7:08:52 PM

happening in the carribean with sand as well ....


islands mine their own sand to make concrete to keep costs low .... but they're mining salt water sand


salt water rusts the iron rebar used to support the buildings so they crumble after 20 years AND ! they erode away their islands to boot

3/19/2008 7:40:37 PM