Tuvalu and The Risk Posed By Climate Change

Tuvalu is a small island nation in the Pacific Ocean, sitting at a distance of over 5000 kilometers from Australia. However, with an average elevation of just two meters above sea level, the country is at risk of being completely uninhabitable and eventually submerged if current global warming and climate change trends continue.

As ocean waters have risen about 15cm in just the last 30 years, 95% of Tuvalu's land could be submerged by the ocean if current trends continue. Tidal floods already devastate Tuvalu's infrastructure today several times a year, destroying schools and threatening freshwater sources and the agricultural industry on the islands. However, Tuvalu's government has been actively attempting to stop the dangers posed by climate change. Not only have they organized land raising projects on the country, but the government has also prepared relocation programs of its citizens to Australia if the country were to become endangered. Recently, Tuvalu has brought its conservation efforts to the international stage, most famously through Foreign Minister Simon Kofe giving a speech in knee-deep seawater.

"We are sinking, but so is everyone else," Kofe said in his speech, highlighting the effects of climate change that extend beyond Tuvalu. This statement underlined how all countries would suffer if they did nothing about climate change, which is a shared responsibility.

Kofe challenged world leaders to acknowledge the deep injustice of the climate crisis, as smaller island nations face the most severe consequences, while simultaneously producing emitting the least. In his address to the COP26 climate summit, Kofe called for several measures, such as the protection of Tuvalu's sovereignty, greater access to climate adaptation plans, the legal recognition of climate-induced damage, and immediate emissions reductions by developed nations.

Despite its losses to the ocean, Kofe introduced Tuvalu's efforts to become a digital nation, where the country's culture and heritage will be protected in the metaverse, as the island continues to sink. Today, his speech is still widely regarded as one of the most effective and emotional climate diplomacy speeches, as it introduced climate change as a tangible threat rather than just a concept.

Sources:

1. Cable News Network. (2021, November 9). Tuvalu minister stands knee-deep in the sea to film COP26 speech to show climate change. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/08/world/tuvalu-minister-climate-crisis-intl-hnk/index.html

2. A special ‘climate’ visa? people in Tuvalu are applying fast. - The New York Times. (n.d.). https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/climate/climate-visa-tuvalu.html

3. Yeo, S. (2024, November 21). Tuvalu: The Disappearing Island nation recreating itself in the metaverse. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20241121-tuvalu-the-pacific-islands-creating-a-digital-nation-in-the-metaverse-due-to-climate-change