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.
Iran announced on Saturday (21 February) that it has designated the naval and air forces of European Union member states as “terrorist entities” i...
Russia launched overnight drone and missile strikes across Ukraine, hitting energy infrastructure in multiple regions, while an explosion in the weste...
Pakistan said it carried out cross-border strikes on militant targets inside Afghanistan after blaming a series of recent suicide bombings, including ...
U.S. President Donald Trump said he plans to send a hospital ship to Greenland, working with Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry. He announced the move in ...
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 22nd of February, covering the latest developments you need to...
Migration isn’t driven only by politics or social issues. In the era of climate change, the environment itself is becoming a reason to leave home.
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.
Tuvalu's Prime Minister Feleti Teo is urging U.N. members to permanently recognize the nation’s maritime borders and statehood amid rising sea levels.
Quentin Griffiths, co-founder of online fashion retailer ASOS, has died in Pattaya, Thailand, after falling from the 17th floor of a condominium on 9 February, Thai police confirmed.
A seven-month-old Japanese macaque has captured global attention after forming an unusual but heart-warming bond with a stuffed orangutan toy following abandonment by its mother.
Divers have recovered the bodies of seven Chinese tourists and a Russian driver after their minibus broke through the ice of on Lake Baikal in Russia, authorities said.
Ukraine’s National Paralympic Committee has announced it will boycott the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympics in Verona on 6 March, citing the International Paralympic Committee’s decision to allow some Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their national flags.
President Donald Trump said on Saturday (21 February) that he will raise temporary tariffs on nearly all U.S. imports from 10% to 15%, the maximum allowed under the law, after the Supreme Court struck down his previous tariff program.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday (12 February) announced the repeal of a scientific finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, and eliminated federal tailpipe emissions standards for cars and trucks.
Tropical Cyclone Gezani has killed at least 31 people and left four others missing after tearing through eastern Madagascar, the government said on Wednesday, with the island nation’s second-largest city bearing the brunt of the destruction.
Rivers and reservoirs across Spain and Portugal were on the verge of overflowing on Wednesday as a new weather front pounded the Iberian peninsula, compounding damage from last week's Storm Kristin.
Morocco has evacuated more than 100,000 people from four provinces after heavy rainfall triggered flash floods across several northern regions, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
Greenland registered its warmest January on record, sharpening concerns over how fast-rising Arctic temperatures are reshaping core parts of the island’s economy.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment