Nauru: A Tiny Island Nation Devastated By Phosphate Mining

 0°31'29.45"S 166°55'55.65"E

(from The Guardian)

   Small nations or territories are often rich paradisaical tax havens, such as Bermuda, Monaco or the Cayman Islands. Some years ago, the world's third smallest country in both size and population ---an offbeat Pacific atoll called Nauru (or Naoero)--- was also on that list. Yet, it suddenly suffered one of the worst environmental, economic and medical declines in modern history: the once tropical landscape is completely stripped, the poverty and disease rate is abnormally high and the government absolutely desperate. In today's episode, how uncontrollable human greed and bird poop have first enriched and later ruined a whole country.

   Yes, you read right: bird poop. Apart from dirtying your window, it serves as a valuable resource for fertilizers and other chemical products. This is so because birds eat a lot of fish and krill, which contain elements such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Now in places that contain large bird colonies, the released feces start piling up, and within many erosion periods they end up buried under the rock receiving the name of guano. If the guano isn't fresh anymore and loses its nitrogen, it forms phosphate; a mineral that would mark the history of Nauru.

  In 1900, a veteran of the British Phosphate Commission, Albert Ellis, stumbled upon this acclaimed ore. At the time of the discovery, the island was under German rule, so the Brits agreed on a divided profit. In the following decades, Nauru would remain an Australian possession, but the mining would continue. However, with the outbreak of World War II, the islanders suffered a brief Japanese occupation in which two thirds of the population had to work as forced laborers whilst the mine had to be temporarily closed. A group of abandoned Japanese gun turrets still can be seen in the Command Ridge. Later, Australia reasserted power until Nauru's peaceful independence in 1968. By then, Nauruans already managed the phosphate extraction by themselves.

    A forsaken Japanese turret (from Reddit)

   And the business was going good back in the 70s, but unquestionably reached its apex in the 90s. With an estimated GDP per capita of $50,000, Nauru became world's second richest state just behind Saudi Arabia. The government even declared the country a tax haven, which subsequently served as a money-laundering retreat for the Russian mafia and Al-Qaeda. Along with more forms of corruption such as nepotism, Nauru was also know for its extravagant high-life: the country bought excessive amounts of beloved fast food, created the almost useless but expensive Nauru Airlines which only operates between Nauru and various other little islands and financed a pathetic West End musical in which Leonardo da Vinci falls in love with Mona Lisa.

"Thanks for choosing Nauru Airlines, we hope you enjoyed the trip" (from Wikimedia)

   Yet, around the 2000s, the phosphate reserves soon ended and the decay of Nauru started. On one hand, the century-long mining had devastated 80% of Nauru's surface and had killed 40% of Nauru's marine life, leaving behind various old quarries in the tropical forest and giant cantilevers by the shore, as pictured above of this post. In what concerns the health, almost the entire population is obese (in fact it holds the world record of highest obesity rate) and almost half of them is diabetic, due to the lavish fast food consumption. Nevertheless, the main sign of extravagance was noticed in the economy. Even if it relied entirely on the phosphate drilling, they might have had reserves if it hadn't been for their past investments in the musical, the airlines and other useless stuff. The Republic of Nauru was aware that there was no going back, so they had to work on their future. For this, we first have to take a look at the so-called "Tampa Affair".

The effect of century-long mining (from BBC)

   In 2001, the Norwegian cargo ship MV Tampa found a stranded vessel on their way through the Indian Ocean. It was a small Indonesian fishing boat overloaded with hundreds of Afghan asylum-seekers. The crew of the Tampa let them hop on and set cruise to the requested nearby Australian overseas territory of Christmas Island; the one known for its annual red crab migration. Once the Tampa arrived at the islet and told the authorities why they had come here, they were surprisingly turned away. And that was so, because Australia had a big migration crisis they couldn't handle. The Tampa remained marooned meanwhile the Australian Parliament tried to act as soon as possible, finally reaching an agreement called "Pacific Solution". This international plan consisted in the placement of the immigrants in diverse Oceanic countries, in exchange for a monthly fee paid by Australia. Nauru evidently joined and built the Nauru Regional Processing Center on the stripped hills of the Meneng district. They gained nearly $10 million per person they hosted.

A group of refugees in Nauru Regional Processing Center (from BBC)

   Yet, social unrest would continue to grow in the little Pacific atoll. On one hand, non-profit organizations protested many times because of alleged violation of human rights in the detention center, proved with a tragic number of death rates; whilst on the other hand, Nauruans were still living in poverty despite the Pacific Solution. Although once they burnt the president's house, the government suddenly started taking new measures. The most prominent step however was made in 2009, when the country started recognizing the two non-UN members Abkhazia and South Ossetia in exchange of $50 million. Still, Nauru withdrew this formal diplomatic recognition last week (July 2026), due to still unknown reasons.

   Fortunately, despite the constant political change ---they've had 10 presidents in 25 years--- Nauru is slowly recovering from the sudden shock and is quickly trying to show a new identity; actually, as of mid-2026, it has changed its name to Naoero, as the country's name is pronounced in the local language. I have also noticed that the old quarries and the cantilevers appear blurry if you enable satellite view in Google Earth, probably as a mark of letting the past be past. Thirdly, the government has funded the Nauru Rehabilitation Corporation, with the goal of repopulating the destroyed center of the island with plant and animal species, but mainly humans. Nonetheless, the little country has to face the stark reality of climate change... Will Nauru, or Naoero, ever fully recover? 

Aerial view of Nauru. On the left side of the front shore stand the cantilevers. The large grey line that extends itself on the right side of the image is the runway of Nauru's International Airport, a former Japanese airfield (from The Guardian)

Sources: ABC, Australian National Museum, Tax Fitness, Revista Pesquisa, BBC, The Guardian, Abkhazia World