Inside the VERY overcrowded Caribbean island which is home to more than 2,000 people but has NO sanitation system or electricity

Rising sea levels threaten the future of an overpopulated island in northern Panama, forcing residents to move to the mainland.

Carti Sugtupu, also known as Gardi Sugdub or ‘Crab Island’, is the focus of a short Youtube videowhere locals reveal how their livelihoods are being severely affected by global warming.

About 2,000 people live on the small rock, which measures about 400 by 150 meters, and in one scene the camera pans to show how many houses have been built on stilts due to constant flooding.

Longtime Carti Sugtupu resident Magdalena Martinez reveals in another scene how ‘we think we’re going to sink’ [and] we know it will happen… in a few years.”

“So we as parents think about our children,” she adds.

About 2,000 people live on the small rock, which measures about 400 by 150 meters, and in one scene the camera pans to show how many houses have been built on stilts due to constant flooding.

Longtime Carti Sugtupu resident Magdalena Martinez reveals in another scene how ‘we think we’re going to sink’ [and] we know it’s going to happen… in a few years’

Currently, fishing is the main form of income on Carti Sugtupu, which is populated by the indigenous Guna community

Magdalena is one of about 300 residents waiting to move into a government-funded home on the mainland.

The island elder explains that while she feels “good” about the move, she is sad about leaving her home and has “left a lot of dreams behind.” [and] lots of tears there.”

Unlike the houses on Carti Sugtupu, the new purpose-built community on the mainland, known as Isber Yala, will have electricity, drinking water and sanitation.

Towards the end of the documentary, Magdalena shows the camera crew the interior of her new home, with the kitchen yet to be installed.

The islander explains to viewers during a tour: ‘This is where I’m going to put my fridge and my stove, but as you can see, it’s very small.

“I’m going to make it a little bigger outside… because I love cooking and I’m good at it.”

Currently, fishing is the main form of income on Carti Sugtupu, which is populated by the indigenous Guna community.

Locals also rely on growing cassava and plantains on the mainland, along with traditional textile production.

Another resident featured in the documentary is elementary school teacher Braulio Navarro. He explains that trading Carti Sugtupu for the mainland is a ‘no brainer’

The locals also rely on the harvest of cassava and plantain from the mainland, along with traditional textile production

Magdalena is one of about 300 residents waiting to move into a government-funded home on the mainland. Above is a rendering of what the purpose-built community looks like

Another resident featured in the documentary is elementary school teacher Braulio Navarro.

He explains that trading Carti Sugtupu for the mainland is a ‘no brainer’ and in one scene he is seen sweating in the extreme heat while telling students ‘it’s hot, too hot, too hot.’

On what the future holds, he muses: ‘Moving to the school on the mainland will be a lot of fun because there we have electricity 24 hours a day and all the classrooms are ready.

‘There we will have two fans that we don’t have here because of the lack of electricity. I know we will all get better there.

‘In the beginning I know it will be a bit difficult, but little by little we will get used to it. That’s what I think…I’m happy.’

After years of delays, the Panamanian government says most families will be moved from Carti Sugtupu to the mainland by 2024.

Currently the island is only 1.20 meters above sea level, which means there is a high risk of flooding.

Steven Paton, a researcher at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, reveals in the film that Carti Sugtupu is part of an archipelago of 365 islands, most of which face similar problems.

About the future of Carti Sungtupu, he says: ‘With the sea level rise that we are experiencing now, that island will not last longer than twenty to a maximum of thirty years.

‘Each island will have to decide for itself when to move.

‘But the fact is that, with sea levels rising as a direct result of climate change, almost all islands will be deserted by the end of this century.’

According to a 2021 World Bank study, 216 million people across six world regions will need to migrate by 2050 due to climate change.