In 2025, more than 90 percent of Tuvaluans had applied for the visa scheme to obtain residency or citizenship in Australia. Just before that in 2022, the Government of Tuvalu had made The first ‘digital nation’ To preserve its statehood and culture in the metaverse if its physical territory disappears.
These small, isolated island communities, many of which have only a few thousand residents, have scarce resources available to deal with the existential threat posed by rising sea levels. Left alone, they can do very little.
Children play in a coastal area protected by sandbags on the Pacific Ocean island of Tuvalu.
“A lot of times people say, ‘You’re just talking about a thousand people, you’re talking about six thousand people.’ United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in the Pacific.Tuya Altangerel told united nations news.
Government, with the support of UNDPis stepping up efforts to save Tuvalu by protecting the country’s most populous islands.
Small increase, devastating results
sea level is rising Mainly driven by global warming Due to which water expands when heated and the speed of melting of land-based ice sheets and glaciers increases.
Workers prepare for coastal protection operations at Funafuti Atoll, Tuvalu.
Few places are experiencing this as rapidly as the Pacific Ocean, where factors such as ocean currents and winds combine with global warming to create a ‘pile-up’ effect on some of the most vulnerable low-lying islands.
In the independent island nation of Tuvalu, levels have risen 21 centimeters in 30 years, almost double the global average. at current rate, Some guesses suggest By 2100, 95 percent of the country may be submerged.
Why are high tides a real danger?
The biggest day-to-day challenge for island communities is the increase in the number and intensity of high tides.
“Our islands are sinking,” Ms. Altangerel said.
With the average elevation above sea level in the country being less than two metres, traditional methods in coastal protection – whether building sea walls or nature-based methods like planting mangroves – “no longer work” in managing these tides, he said.
“If we plant mangroves, the mangroves will easily be swallowed by the sea… King tides will just wash away the mangroves, or they can also wash away the sea walls,” she said.
It is not just about the coastal areas disappearing, it is also the sense of nationality of the people and the future existence of these countries is also in great danger.
-Tuya Altangerel
Migration, a solution?
While adaptation projects are underway, migration is also an option. In 2023, the Tuvaluan and Australian governments initiated the Falepili Association, a treaty that allows up to 280 Tuvaluans to migrate to Australia each year for residence or citizenship.
Last year, 90 percent of the country’s population had applied for the first round of visa voting.
Other agreements exist in Kiribati and Vanuatu that allow working citizens to obtain visas to Australia. Meanwhile, New Zealand grants 75 residency visas per year to Kiribati and Vanuatu, and the United States has an agreement with the Marshall Islands where citizens can live, work, and study in the US without a visa.
Against this backdrop, there are concerns about the impact on the culture and heritage of Pacific peoples, particularly those with traditional livelihoods, if populations move away en masse.
Can a nation survive without land?
With rising sea levels, it is possible that some island nations may physically disappear.
“It’s not just about coastal areas disappearing, it’s also threatening people’s sense of nationality and the future existence of these countries,” Ms Altangerel said.
A young boy walks through the village square, a month after the cyclone caused widespread flooding. (file)
One International Court of Justice The ruling in 2025 clarified that sea level rise causes loss of its physical area No This automatically results in the loss of its statehood or sovereignty, allowing Tuvalu to remain a nation state with rights over its marine resources and a seat in the United Nations, even if its islands are underwater.
A template in Tuvalu
In Tuvalu, UNDP – began working with the government and the Green Climate Fund A new adaptation plan in 2017 More than seven hectares of new land is designed to remain above projected sea level beyond 2100, based on detailed sensor mapping.
Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project Dredges sand to create high ground that protects from storm surges on the islands of Funafuti, Nanumia and Nanumaga.
Before (top) and during (bottom) reclamation work under the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project.
“These are very drastic measures,” cautions Ms. Altengarell of the project that has cost about $55 million so far: “We basically reconstruct the land around the atoll so that there is safe land where people can build shelter, build housing.”
Phase two begins in 2024, where eight hectares of land will be added on the island of Fongafale along the southern coastline of the country’s capital, Funafuti, where 60 percent of the country’s population lives. Many Tuvaluans from less protected atolls have already moved there in search of safety.
Another way the government and UNDP are helping Tuvaluans stay afloat is by providing an insurance scheme should high tides cause flooding, and the initial 400 households in Funafuti will receive an automatic payment of up to $1,500 per high tide event.
For Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands – three of the world’s four most underpopulated countries – the measures in Tuvalu could offer a blueprint for their future adaptation and their survival.
“If we succeed as a nation in protecting Tuvalu … we are contributing to scaling up and replicating this amazing work throughout the Pacific, but also in other small island developing states,” Ms. Altangerel said.
save the pacific
Seven years ago, visiting Pacific islands spread thousands of miles across the world’s largest ocean, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “If we save the Pacific, we save the world.”
As the world marks Earth Day on 22 AprilIn Tuvalu, the effort is not only about adaptation, but also about survival and the question is whether a nation can maintain its land, identity and future as the sea rises.
