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The Inquiry

Can the statues of Easter Island survive climate change?

The Inquiry

BBC

News Commentary, News

4.61.7K Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2024

⏱️ 24 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Hundreds of monumental human shaped statues are motionless, and exposed to the elements, on Rapa Nui - also known as Easter Island. A name that dates back to 1722, when a Dutch explorer first saw it on Easter Sunday.

The statues, or Moai, were there centuries before that and are sacred to the Rapa Nui people.

They have also become a world famous tourist attraction and can be found in multiple outdoor locations across the small island. They are heavy and huge - sizes range from 1 to 20 metres tall. Some are upright on platforms, others are toppled over and broken.

Over the years, global weather has become more extreme and is having a devastating effect. Can the statues of Easter Island survive climate change?

Contributors: Sonia Haoa Cardinali, Archaeologist with the Mata Ki Te Rangi Foundation and coordinator of Easter Island's national monuments, Rapa Nui Roberto Rondanelli, Meteorologist and Climate Scientist at the Department of Geophysics, University of Chile Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Archaeologist and the Director of the Easter Island Statue Project Pilar Vicuña, culture programme officer, Unesco (Santiago de Chile),

Presenter: Charmaine Cozier Producers: Lorna Reader and Jill Collins Production co-ordinators: Liam Morrey and Tim Fernley Editor: Tara McDermott

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This was in a impregnable fortress. The only way you get out was in a wooden box.

0:05.0

The controversial maximum security prison impossible to escape from.

0:09.0

One of the duties of a political prisoner is the escape.

0:12.0

The IRA inmates who found a way.

0:14.4

I'm Carlo Gableer, and I'll be navigating a path through the disturbing inside story

0:21.5

of the biggest jailbreak in British and Irish history.

0:25.0

The narrative that they want is that this is a big achievement by them.

0:28.5

Escape from the maze, listen first on BBC sounds.

0:34.0

Welcome to the inquiry. I'm Charmin Kosea.

0:37.0

Each week, one question, four expert witnesses and an answer.

0:41.0

It's summer 2024, one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world.

0:48.0

Hundreds of monumental human-shaped statues are motionless and exposed to the elements on Rappanui, also known as Easter Island.

0:57.0

That name dates back to 1722 when a Dutch explorer first saw it on Easter Sunday. The statues or Moai were there hundreds of

1:06.9

years before that and are sacred to the Rappanuey people. They've also become a

1:12.2

world famous tourist attraction and can be found in multiple outdoor

1:16.1

locations across the small islands. They are heavy and huge. Sises range from 1 to 20 meters tall. Some are upright on platforms, others are

1:25.7

toppled over and broken. Over the years global weather has become more extreme.

1:31.0

So this week we're asking can the statues of Easter Island

1:35.3

survive climate change.

1:38.9

Part 1, a distant warning.

1:47.0

Rappanuey is very far away from everybody.

1:51.0

And in Rappanoey, Rapa is a land or earth and Nui is a mean big, but it's still a small island.

...

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