Over a third of Tuvalu's population has applied for Australia's climate visa, as rising sea levels threaten to submerge the Pacific nation within decades.
More than one-third of the people in Tuvalu have applied for a new climate visa to migrate to Australia, according to official figures, highlighting the existential threat posed by rising sea levels to the Pacific nation.
Tuvalu’s ambassador to the UN, Tapugao Falefou, told Reuters he was "startled by the huge number of people vying for this opportunity". The small island community is eager to know who will become the first recognised climate migrants under the scheme.
Tuvalu, with a population of around 11,000 spread across nine low-lying atolls between Australia and Hawaii, is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Scientists say sea level rise, driven by global warming, poses a severe risk to its survival.
Since applications opened this month under Australia’s visa lottery scheme, 1,124 individuals have registered. Including family members, the total number seeking to migrate has reached 4,052, under the Falepili Union treaty signed in 2023.
Applications close on 18 July, with an annual cap of 280 visas to ensure the country does not face a damaging brain drain. The visa will allow Tuvalu residents to live, work, and study in Australia, and they will gain access to health services and education similar to Australian citizens.
"Moving to Australia under the Falepili Union treaty will in some way provide additional remittance to families staying back," said Ambassador Falefou.
NASA scientists project that by 2050, daily tides could submerge half of Funafuti, Tuvalu's main atoll where 60 percent of its residents live. Villagers there already inhabit land strips as narrow as 20 metres wide. The worst-case scenario of a 2-metre sea level rise could leave 90 percent of Funafuti underwater.
Tuvalu's mean elevation is just two metres above sea level. Over the past three decades, the country has experienced a sea-level rise of 15 centimetres, one and a half times the global average.
In response, Tuvalu has built seven hectares of artificial land and is planning further reclamation projects, hoping these will remain above water until at least 2100.
The Australian visa programme marks one of the world’s first structured migration pathways for people displaced by climate change impacts, setting a precedent for other threatened island nations in the Pacific.
During President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Washington, officials from Azerbaijan and the United States discussed expanding economic collaboration and ...
President Ilham Aliyev’s meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will be held at the White House today...
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stated in an interview published on Friday that he has no intention of seeking another term in office and di...
Nikol Pashinyan and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff discussed strengthening Armenia-U.S. strategic relations ahead of planned trilateral meetings at the Whit...
China’s President Xi Jinping told Russian leader Vladimir Putin that Beijing will continue promoting peace talks on Ukraine, regardless of how the s...
In the pre-dawn darkness of Funafuti atoll, 16-year-old Teleke Palani races across a coral causeway as spring tide waters creep across the pavement, her phone capturing the encroaching sea that threatens to swallow her homeland whole.
For the first time, Tuvalu’s residents can access cash and make card payments locally, following the launch of the country's first ATMs and point-of-sale terminals.
The world’s biggest dance music festival faces an unexpected setback as a fire destroys its main stage, prompting a last-minute response from organisers determined to keep the party alive in Boom, Belgium.
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Oaxaca region of Mexico on Saturday.
China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will send an upgraded ‘version 3.0’ free-trade agreement to their heads of government for approval in October, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday after regional talks in Kuala Lumpur.
A resumption of Iraq’s Kurdish oil exports is not expected in the near term, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, despite an announcement by Iraq’s federal government a day earlier stating that shipments would resume immediately.
Chinese automaker Chery has denied an industry-ministry audit that disqualified more than $53 million in state incentives for thousands of its electric and hybrid vehicles, insisting it followed official guidance and committed no fraud.
The residents of Pingtou, a small village in China's southern Guangdong province, are grappling with the worst floods in living memory. While the region is accustomed to typhoons and seasonal downpours, this week’s flooding has shocked even the oldest villagers.
A growing number of extreme climate events are inflating food prices around the world, with new research showing that key crops such as coffee, cocoa, rice and vegetables have seen sharp increases due to weather shocks.
The Great Barrier Reef has suffered its most significant coral decline in nearly four decades, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences (AIMS).
Torrential monsoon rains continue to wreak havoc across northern and eastern India, with widespread flooding reported in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Overflowing rivers, submerged streets, and landslides have left residents stranded and local infrastructure overwhelmed.
Volcanoes can ground planes, bury towns, and reshape landscapes in hours. With over 850 eruptions since 2015, Earth is constantly reminding us of its raw power, but why does it erupt, and what can we expect next?
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment