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Three Islands Disappeared in the Past Year. Is Climate Change to Blame?

“What we do have is a church sitting in the middle of the sea when the tide comes in,” former Kiribati president Anote Tong said

There is increasing concern that rising sea levels due to climate change will have devastating effects on low-lying islands and coastlines, as scientists have found that three islands have disappeared within the past year, NBC News reported

Tebunginako, a village in the Pacific island nation Kiribati, has essentially been wiped away by the seas.

“It’s no longer there,” former Kiribati president Anote Tong said. “What we do have is a church sitting in the middle of the sea when the tide comes in.”

This comes after a two other islands, one in Hawaii and another off the coast of Japan, disappeared toward the end of 2018.

In 2013, the United Nations released a report saying sea levels could rise between 1.5 and 3 inches by 2100, leaving some to believe the recent disappearances are harbingers to what is to come.

Click here to read NBC News' full story with before-and-after pictures of the disappearing island.

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