Coming Home to Banaba

The tiny Pacific Island of Banaba, was once one of the richest sources of Guano in the world. Guano is the faeces of seabirds which have accumulated over millions of years, and because it is an excellent source of nitrogen phosphate it is an excellent fertiliser. During the first half of the twentieth century, the island was devastated by phosphate mining and its indigenous population forcibly removed. In 1997, a group of Banaban people, and others with various links to the island visited Banaba. This is the story of how the lives of the Banaban people were irrevocably changed by global forces over which they had no control. This programme was produced by the Open University in the United Kingdom