Introduction

In March 1946, the American Navy evacuated the inhabitants of Bikini Atoll and in July of that same year, a few months later, they started trials with atomic bombs. A total of 67 nuclear tests were carried out between 1946 and 1958 which had a devastating effect on the natural environment and on the health of the people. 

For decades, the inhabitants of Bikini and other islands suffered all kinds of hardships: they were forced to leave their homeland to be relocated in inhospitable places, they developed serious illnesses due to radiation, such as various types of cancer, and they saw how their land became barren and ceased to be productive due to contamination. 

At the end of the last century, the Marshall Islands government began filing a series of lawsuits against the government of the United States to claim compensation for the damage caused by the nuclear tests, and some of these lawsuits are still on-going today. 

Currently, the Marshall Islands are again in the news, and unfortunately, this time for another tragic phenomenon also to do with human activity: as a result of climate change and rising sea levels, flooding is becoming increasingly common, each time causing damage and forcing the population to evacuate. It should be borne in mind that the islands and islets that form this country are only a few metres above sea level and that the rise in the water levels could lead to their disappearance in a few decades.