Two of its nine atolls have already been largely submerged. According to experts, Tuvalu will be completely uninhabitable within 80 years.
The 11,000 inhabitants of the Tuvalu archipelago are among the nations most threatened by climate change. To help them, Australia announced on Friday November 10 that they will be able to benefit from rights “specials” to settle and work in the country, under a treaty made public by the two countries. “We believe the people of Tuvalu deserve to have the choice to live, study and work elsewhere, as climate change worsens,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Tuvalu counterpart Kausea Natano said in a joint statement.
In addition to rights “specials” for those arriving, the treaty also includes sections devoted to defense, committing Australia to come to the aid of Tuvalu in the event of invasion or natural disaster. The Tuvalais will be able to benefit from a “access to Australian services which will allow them mobility with dignity”specifies the text, which must still be ratified by the two countries before becoming effective.
Finally, this treaty intends to allow the Tuvalais to “preserve deep ancestral ties” which unite them to their land and the sea, while recognizing that the move to action comes late. Two of its nine atolls have already been largely submerged. According to experts, Tuvalu will be completely uninhabitable within 80 years.
Australia dependent on coal
The signing of this treaty can be seen as a strategic victory for Canberra, which aims to extend its influence in the Pacific in the face of the growing presence of China. However, a rapprochement between small island states and Australia is not self-evident: the country’s commercial dependence on coal and gas exports, two sectors among the most emitting gases and greenhouse effect and therefore two determining players in the Global warming, which dooms the Pacific islands, has long been a stumbling block in their relationship.
Kiribati and the Solomon Islands, for example, have turned to Beijing in recent years. Tuvalu remains opposed to this by continuing to diplomatically recognize Taiwan.
Average sea and ocean levels have risen by around 23 cm since 1880, but their rise has accelerated sharply over the past 25 years. According to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it will have gained 30 cm more by 2050 and 77 cm by 2100. Combined with natural disasters which will also multiply under the effect of the average increase in global temperatures, this increase threatens in the short and medium term many island states such as the Maldives (Indian Ocean), Kiribati and Tuvalu (Polynesia) or the Marshall Islands and Nauru (Oceania), will become uninhabitable before being swallowed by the ocean.