Photo courtesy of UNDP Climate via Flickr.
Nanumea Atoll is one of the nine islands and coral atolls that make up the country of Tuvalu, which recently became the world’s first digital nation.
By Catelyn Fitzgerald ’23
Science and Environment Editor
Global temperatures are inching closer to 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming and global greenhouse gas emissions continue to be on the rise, according to the 2022 International Panel on Climate Change report. Of these increases in emissions, the report explains, Small Island Developing States are responsible for a “negligible” quantity. Despite their minimal contributions to climate change, small islands are highly vulnerable to its effects, the United Nations said. As climate change’s worst impacts come closer to being reality, small islands have turned to digital preservation as they face the possibility of being wiped from the physical plane.
Severe storms, rising sea levels, coral bleaching, increases in invasive species and drought are all impacts of global warming that are already being felt by small islands, according to the United Nations. Climate change also destroys island ecosystems, which threatens their populations’ access to key resources and livelihoods.
For the Pacific Island countries, this could include a decline in fish yields of over half by 2100, the UN reported. These effects may grow beyond what small islands are able to adapt to before the turn of the century, forcing their populations to migrate, a process for which their governments and legal systems are not prepared.
One of these small island nations is Tuvalu, a country in the Pacific Islands that is composed of nine islands and has a population of just over 10,000 people, according to Britannica. To respond to the imminent threats posed by climate change, Tuvalu has become the world’s “first digital nation” as part of what was dubbed the Future Now Project.
In recent years, Tuvalu has not shied away from demanding climate action. During the COP26 conference Simon Kofe, Tuvalu’s Minister for Justice, Communication and Foreign Affairs recorded his speech to the United Nations while standing knee-deep in the ocean to show the country’s struggle with sea level rise, the Guardian reported.
According to Timeless Tuvalu, the country’s official tourism site, children are taught about climate change starting at the age of six. Children are also taught about emigration, as they “could be the last generation of children to grow up in Tuvalu,” the site said. The country has also taken on several climate adaptation and resilience projects to protect its resources from climate change, the United Nations Development Programme reported.
One of Tuvalu’s islands, Teafualike Islet, now exists digitally on tuvalu.tv. “Teafualiku Islet, our smallest island, is the first part of our country we’ll lose — so it’s the first we’ve recreated digitally. Without immediate, global climate action, all of Tuvalu will only exist here,” the website states.
Alongside a digital recreation of the islet, complete with swaying trees and an endlessly circling flock of birds, visitors to the site can view information about the islet’s weather and tides. The site also contains a recording of a speech given by Kofe about the project.
In the recording, Kofe addresses the audience from a podium on one of Teafualike’s sandy beaches. Kofe begins by explaining that as global temperatures continue to rise, “we in the Pacific would not sit idly by and wait for the world to act.” He adds that the country has had to take its own action in the face of climate change. “As our land disappears, we have no choice but to become the world’s first digital nation,” he said.
A minute into the video, the camera begins to slowly zoom out, revealing Kofe’s surroundings. The background glitches and flickers as it comes to life, with gray rectangles turning into patches of sand and tree branches that haphazardly flash in and out of the background as they come into frame. As the video continues to zoom out and Kofe appears smaller and smaller, he continues his address. “Piece by piece we will preserve our country, bring solace to our people and remind our children and grandchildren what our home once was.”
He emphasizes that while Tuvalu does what it can to minimize its own environmental impacts, other countries need to come together and take action to truly make a difference. “Without a global conscious and a global commitment to our shared well-being, we may soon find the rest of the world joining us online as their lands disappear,” he said. Towards the end of the video, the full expanse of the digital islet came into frame, surrounded by an empty digital abyss.
Future Now does not symbolize Tuvalu’s resignation to the changing climate, Kofe told Long Now. Rather, it serves as a way of bringing local stories, places and culture to Tuvaluans wherever they are. As the project develops, it will include more elements such as cultural practices, songs, and historical records.
“Piece by piece we will preserve our country, bring solace to our children and grandchildren what our home once was.”
It can also act as a tool to monitor the impacts of climate change on the islands through the display of real-time data and help predict future impacts, Kofe said. He also expressed that he hoped it would signal Tuvaluans to prepare for the realities of climate change.
In addition to the Future Now project, Tuvalu partnered with the Marshall Islands to develop the Rising Nations Initiative, a project that aims to “protect their sovereignty, cultural integrity, human and economic capital” even after their physical territory is lost. According to the Global Center for Climate Mobility, the initiative consists of four pillars. These include a political declaration to affirm the sovereignty of Pacific island nations, climate adaptation efforts, the creation of a “living repository” to preserve their cultural heritage and the designation of these countries as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.