The Future of Tuvalu
The Future of Tuvalu
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A can-do-no-worries-mate Aussie pilot flew high and then low over the Pacific and twice swooped over the spit of land 1,000 miles from Fiji that constitutes the fourth smallest land-mass in the world.
This is no ordinary country and we had waited to make this journey for a long time. Getting this far had been hard going. A twelve-hour flight to Los Angeles, an eight-hour layover and then another ten-hour flight to Fiji. A twenty-four-hour stop-over and finally a two hour flight to Tuvalu.
Then this stunning view of a remarkable eight-island atoll: a coral reef nation state that is twenty-six square kilometres in size and home to 9,600 people. Perched uncertainly five degrees south of the equator and almost on the international dateline, Tuvalu has been gaining an international notoriety that belies its size. We were about to set down on Funafuti, the main island of Tuvalu that stretches for fourteen kilometres in length and between three and three hundred meters in width on the Pacific like a giant-sized eel. Funafuti International Airport, a low-size cramped building that buzzed with activity as those arriving jostled for space with those leaving. The passport stamp recorded that on the 26 February 2008 we arrived in Tuvalu on a seven-day visit. This stamp will be long-cherished even when the passport is out of date. Because if all the indicators come to pass, Tuvalu is not long for this world.
The sea is rising and within perhaps fifty years, these islands will have sunk into history and in all likelihood all that will remain with be a wave breaker of a piece of rock jutting out of the Pacific Ocean. And we will be able to say to whoever wants to hear, there once was a country called Tuvalu; and we were there. Unless of course things change and Tuvalu survives...unless things change.
Rumours of Tuvalu's demise have already been greatly exaggerated. Al Gore in his award-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" stated that all the people of these islands of Tuvalu have had to evacuate to New Zealand. No so; at least not yet. The islands are still standing even if only two to three metres above sea-level and the people of Tuvalu are fully determined to secure the future of their homes against the very real threat associated with global warming. The future of Tuvalu is very much in the balance. It faces very real dangers from rising sea levels, coral bleaching, severe storms and cyclones. But the people of Tuvalu are determined not to go down without a fight. For the last ten years they have launched a determined campaign to bring the plight of their island to international attention.
Peadar King with Sir Toaripi Lauti
Sir Toaripi Lauti was Tuvalu's first Prime Minister and former Governor General. Now in his eighties, his agility disguises his age as he nimbly sits cross-legged on the floor of his home along with his wife and extended family. Immediately he takes hold of the conversation. As Governor General of a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations, he attended the wedding of Charles Windsor and Dianna Spenser in 1981. We get the full story. One of his cherished possessions is a bowl in which Queen Elizabeth washed her hands during a visit to the island following independence. Tuvalu may have declared its independence on 2nd October 1978 to become the 189th member of the United Nations but its colonial attachment runs deep. The Union Jack forms part of the country's flag however long it will fly over this threatened land. On the day we interview him Mr. Lauti is feeling very despondent. He gives Tuvalu ten years. In ten years time, he believes, Tuvalu will be underwater because of the force of the rising tide, and a rich culture, language, identity and people will disappear. He wants an orderly exit. He fears that people wonÕt face up to the impending reality; that they will be forced off the island in a rush and they wonÕt have the time or the space to plan another Tuvalu. He fears the scattering that , without foresight and planning, will mark the end of a cherished way of life.
Not that everyone shares this appaling vista nor indeed is everyone willing to face up to what most scientists now regard as the inevitable sinking of Tuvalu. These are a Christian people schooled in a literal interpretation of the Bible and GodÕs covenant with Noah is their touchstone. He may once have deluged the world with rain and rising sea-levels but in His covenant with Noah He promised that He would never again visit such devastation on His people.
This literal interpretation is challenged by Pastor Tafue Lusama, member of the Tuvalu Climate Change Action Network. He knows the sea is rising. While acknowledging its apparently inexorable rise, he is quick to point out that it is happening because of the actions of people and not God. God, he argues, has kept His promise, but as stewards of the earth we have not kept ours. Later and somewhat ironically, as our conversation nears its end, a rainbow appears out at sea. And then we rememberedÉ" as a sign of this everlasting covenant that he would never again flood the earth God set a rainbow in the clouds". Whether there is life at the end of TuvaluÕs rainbow, or whether Tuvalu will sink into oblivion as a result of our poor stewardship of the earth, only time will tell. Unfortunately we might know far too soon.
Peadar King is the executive producer of a six-part documentary series entitled "What in the World?". The series will begin on June 5, 2008, on RTE One Television. The documentary on Tuvalu is entitled "Keeping your head above water in Tuvalu".