‘In 10 years we may cease to exist’: rising seas and influx of tourists threaten to engulf Panama island

A Guna makes fake wooden guns for a children’s reenactment of a 16th-century battle against the conquistadors. Photograph: Sadak Souici/The Guardian

In a church built on stilts facing the sea, two 19-year-old American Mormon priests sit in front of the altar chatting to young Guna people. Elder Burr and Elder Aba, from the US states of Utah and Oregon respectively, reached the island of Kanir-Dup , in the Guna Yala (San Blas) archipelago in Panama, by pirogue more than four months ago, sent by their movement to teach the Indigenous community about the word of Jesus Christ.

Since their arrival, the missionaries’ daily routines have been on a continuous loop: prayers, sports, meals, Bible studies and mass. Yet Burr does not seem to mind the repetition; he has his mind on the greater aim of his proselytism mission. “We are here to convert these natives,” he says.