The Courier

Funafuti atoll. View of the sea.

© Hegel Goutier

Amazingly, all it takes is a few waves a little higher than usual and you have to take a boat to get from the plane to the bar at the airport in Funafuti, Tuvalu’s atoll capital. Tuvalu is one of those groups of islands that scarcely emerge above the waves of the Pacific. Consequently, it is under constant threat from tsunamis and other natural disasters.

28 February 2006 was the date of a major scare for several of the nine islands of the Tuvalu archipelago – especially Funafuti. The Funafuti atoll stretches in an arc 12 kilometres long between the lagoon and the ocean with a maximum width of 400 metres, tapering at the two extremities. Its highest point is a mere 3.7 metres. That day, a wave 3.5 metres high – the highest ever recorded – broke on the island and even though it came ashore without much force it was sufficient to swamp a large part of the island. Enough to put the airport underwater and leave in its wake pools of salt water that destroyed crops.

Although this flooding was exceptional, high tides regularly mean that parts of the Tuvalu Islands are submerged - and the consequences are disastrous. The limited ground water is contaminated, salty and stagnant water seeps into the cesspools and mixes with the refuse that fills ditches dug during World War II. Agriculture increasingly becomes a hit and miss affair.

Increasingly apparent deterioration

Not surprisingly, scientific studies confirm the worsening situation on the Tuvalu Islands. Data provided by an Australian tide monitoring system shows that sea levels around the atolls have increased 7 centimetres over the last 13 years, exceeding the knock-on effect of melting of glaciers. Additionally, other factors such as El Niño must have contributed to the present situation. A clear sign of this deterioration is the submergence of the tip of Funafuti atoll, where the islet of Tepuka Salivilivili is now under water, having first lost its coconut palms to the sea.

The island’s oldest inhabitants told The Courier how, in their lifetime, rain has become increasingly rare but at the same time heavier and more pounding when it comes. Now it beats down with a force that threatens to break up the soil in various spots like the sites of the trenches dug during the war and damages the pulaka crop - a tuber that forms the basis of the local diet. Normally growing a metre tall, the plant is now becoming increasingly weakened and is in the process of disappearing completely.

Early awareness

Luckily, the population of Tuvalu realised early on the dangers they faced. As early as 1992 – when there was still controversy over whether or not climate change was actually taking place – Tuvalu’s successive governments grew concerned about the possible disaster they felt threatened their country. At first their concerns received little attention, but their perseverance finally brought results.

This was mainly because Tuvalu’s democratic system showed its commitment at this time and, despite very limited means, the government managed to shake up international organisations responsible for climate change. All this occurred long before the worldwide call for action. It seems that throughout the world, there was a real sense of sympathy for this small country. 

Consensus and collective involvement

The consensus of opinion in Tuvalu of the importance of climate change rallies both politicians and the rest of the population. TANGO – the Tuvalu Association of NGOs – includes almost 50 different groups, all of them relating to climate risk in one form or another. Each one of them stands united behind the government in the drive to increase awareness of the issue, both inside and outside the nation. Annie Homasi, a director of TANGO, and often present in global forums, was among those who spoke to The Courier about the coordination programme between the government and outside agencies. 

Discordant voices

Because of this cooperation, there is a very broad consensus in support of the government’s positions in facing climate change, although the backing isn’t always 100 %.

One of the few to strike a note of discord is the Reverend Kitiona Tausi, for whom the climate risk issue is more a subject of ideological dispute with the government. Despite being a party to the Kyoto Protocol, the government decided to opt for oil rather than solar energy in supplying electricity to the country’s other islands. In his criticism, Tausi points out that his church uses solar panels. He also criticises the government for having accepted the possibility of relocating the population, a solution he sees as unacceptable, although he admits that some of his fellow clergymen in the country are of the same opinion as the government.

Mrs Siuila Toloa, a teacher at the Nauti Primary School who is also President of Island Care and Secretary General of the Tuvalu Red Cross for 21 years - stresses the need for collective responsibility in the face of climate threats. Her personal SOS is addressed directly to the major polluters. She says: “Global warming can be solved if we all work together. At least then we will reduce the damage. The cause of the damage is neither here in Tuvalu nor carbon emissions from Africa. I’m thinking about the countries that did not sign the Kyoto Protocol. I say to  them: help us. If not, my country will sink.”

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