The Guna people from Gardi Sugdub are the first among the 63 communities on Panama's Caribbean and Pacific coasts that, according to government officials and scientists, will be forced to relocate due to rising sea levels.

"We are a little sad because we will leave behind the homes we have known all our lives, our relationship with the sea, where we fish, where we swim, and where tourists come, but the sea is slowly swallowing the island", said 24-year-old Nadín Morales, who was preparing to move with her mother, uncle and boyfriend.

An official from Panama's Ministry of Housing said some people have decided to stay on the island until it is no longer safe, without disclosing a specific number. Authorities will not force them to leave, the official said anonymously to discuss the matter.

Gardi Sugdub is one of approximately 50 populated islands in the Guna Yala archipelago. It is about 366 meters long and 137 meters wide. From above, it is roughly a prickly oval surrounded by dozens of short docks where residents tie their boats.

Every year, water fills the streets and enters homes. Climate change is not only causing sea levels to rise, but it is also warming the oceans and therefore generating stronger storms.

"Recently, we have seen that climate change has had a major impact", said Morales, a local. "Now the tide reaches levels it never reached before, and the heat is unbearable".

The autonomous government of Guna decided two decades ago that they needed to consider leaving the island, but at that time it was because the island was becoming too crowded. The effects of climate change have accelerated this thinking, said 61-year-old island teacher Evelio López.

Leaving the island is "a great challenge because over 200 years of our culture come from the sea, so leaving this island means many things", López said. "Leaving the sea, the economic activities we have there on the island, to be now on solid ground, in the forest. We will see what the long-term result will be".

A direct consequence of climate change

Steven Paton, director of the physical monitoring program at the Smithsonian Institute in Panama, said the upcoming relocation "is a direct consequence of climate change through rising sea levels".

"The islands are on average only half a meter above sea level, and as this level rises, sooner or later, the Guna will almost certainly have to abandon all the islands by the end of the century or sooner".

A recent study by the Climate Change Directorate of Panama's Ministry of Environment, with support from universities in Panama and Spain, estimated that by 2050, Panama will lose about 2.01% of its coastal territory due to rising sea levels.

Panama estimates it will cost about 1.2 billion dollars to relocate the approximately 38,000 residents who will face rising sea levels in the short and medium term, said Ligia Castro, director of climate change at the Ministry of Environment.