I was going through some research when I came across one interesting image of a flag. It was blue with a gold strip running horizontally. There was a white star just below the gold strip. I found out that it was the
flag of Nauru, one of the smallest country in the world. I found out that Nauru is a small island nation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The star represents the island of Nauru, it has 12 points, representing the 12 tribes of the island nation. The position of the star below the gold strip represents the country's geographical location which is one degree south of the equator, the gold strip being the equator. The blue field represents the vast ocean the islands lies smack in.
I've read that Nauru was known for its only resource and that is phosphate. Before this resource was depleted, the people of Nauru had one of the highest per capita income in the world. Sadly, mining do not renew resources. And now Nauru is having a hard time economically. It doesn't help that it is isolated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the nearest neighbor of this island nation is 300 kilometers away. The country relies heavily on assistance from Australia. Economics is not the only threat being faced by Nauru, the rising tides brought about by the warming of the planet could drive the population to the uninhabitable former mining areas which are higher than the densely populated coastal areas.
Nauru is a microcosmic example of natural resources poorly managed. From a boom area, in less than a century, the country is struggling to make ends meet. What happened to this small island nation can also happen to our planet. After all we are also an isolated "island". The country is trying to recover from the ecologically negative impact brought about by the decades of phosphate mining. It's a little slow, meanwhile, we can only hope that the
flag of Nauru will again fly someday proudly because they have won the battle against the effects of the errors and excesses of the previous generation.
by:
The Flagman
