内容摘要：A man from the Tikuna Indigenous community carries a cistern from a nonprofit that can be used to catch and store rainwater for the community amid a drought in Loma Linda, near Leticia, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

A man from the Tikuna Indigenous community carries a cistern from a nonprofit that can be used to catch and store rainwater for the community amid a drought in Loma Linda, near Leticia, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

A Guna Indigenous woman covers her head due to light rain on Gardi Sugdub Island, part of the San Blas archipelago off Panama’s Caribbean coast, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)A Guna Indigenous woman covers her head due to light rain on Gardi Sugdub Island, part of the San Blas archipelago off Panama’s Caribbean coast, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

On a recent day, the island’s Indigenous residents rowed or sputtered off with outboard motors to fish. Children, some in uniforms and others in the colorful local textiles called “molas,” chattered as they hustled through the warren of narrow dirt streets on their way to school.“We’re a little sad, because we’re going to leave behind the homes we’ve known all our lives, the relationship with the sea, where we fish, where we bathe and where the tourists come, but the sea is sinking the island little by little,” said Nadín Morales, 24, who prepared to move with her mother, uncle and boyfriend.EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a series of on how tribes and Indigenous communities are coping with and combating climate change.

An official with Panama’s ministry of housing said that some people have decided to stay on the island until it’s no longer safe, without revealing a specific number. Authorities won’t force them to leave, the official said on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue.Gardi Sugdub is one of about 50 populated islands in the archipelago of the Guna Yala territory. It is only about 400 yards (366 meters) long and 150 yards (137 meters) wide. From above, it’s roughly a prickly oval surrounded by dozens of short docks where residents tie up their boats.

Children run to school in the rain in Gardi Sugdub Island, part of the San Blas archipelago off Panama’s Caribbean coast, Monday, May 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Children run to school in the rain in Gardi Sugdub Island, part of the San Blas archipelago off Panama’s Caribbean coast, Monday, May 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)People take part in a protest demanding the end of the war and immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

People take part in a protest demanding the end of the war and immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem rides a camel after a tour of Qal’at al-Bahrain Fort, Sunday, May 25, 2025, near Manama, Bahrain. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem rides a camel after a tour of Qal’at al-Bahrain Fort, Sunday, May 25, 2025, near Manama, Bahrain. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)Diane Christie wears a necklace with a photograph of her uncle, World War II U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Thomas Kelly, inside Santos Robinson Mortuary, Friday, May 23, 2025, in San Leandro, Calif., whose remains had been missing since being killed when the World War II bomber nicknamed Heaven Can Wait was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed into the water off the coast of New Guinea on March 11, 1944. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)