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World's 1st climate migrant treaty enacted; as Tuvalu islands sink by 2050, 280 residents a year already relocating to Australia; Down to Earth channel 3.5 min Dec 13 vlog w transcript at Heating Planet blog Australia will take in 280 residents of Pacific Island nation Tuvalu each year in the world's first formal https://cityofangels25.blogspot.com/2025/12/1st-climate-migrant-treaty-tuvalu.html
TRANSCRIPT
Tuvalu sits in the heart of the South Pacific. Nine fragile atolls and islands, home to just 10,000 people. Its main industries are farming and fishing, but much of its income still comes from foreign aid. Its infrastructure is fragile. There isn't even a proper waste processing facility. Barely 2 m above sea level, Tuvalu is seen as being the first nation to sink beneath the rising seas due to climate change. And now its citizens face a choice that will shape the rest of their lives.
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Matan works at the National Bank of Tuvalu. He took us to a shoreline that already shows the impact of rising seas. This is the the end of the valley. He says the landscape he remembered from childhood has completely changed. *before usually the sand over here. When I was in primary school what a primary school when I was in primary school.*
His wife Maver recalls coming to this beach for a family picnic back around 2004. *That cement up here. Before the sand was here. The sun was here. Yeah. Cuz all our buckets and our stuff was we put it here and then us we just live beside this. Yeah. And then after a few years after and then the sand was there because of the climate change. Yeah. Mm-m.
Global sea levels continue a relentless climb, rising more than 10 cm over the past three decades. But sea level rise here is outpacing the global average. If this trend continues, nearly 90% of Tuvalu's land could be underwater by the year 2100. The place where Iopo and Maver used to play has also been affected by rising sea levels with the sand washed away leaving only bare rock. No sand to sit down and having a nice breeze. Just all the stone around here. Yeah.
Rising sea levels have also intensified storm surges and coastal flooding with saltwater intrusion and freshwater contamination now part of daily life in Tuvalu. To defend its coastline, the government launched a coastal reclamation project in 2017. Its first phase finished in October this year.
As we celebrate today, we are also reminded that our journey is not over. Climate change continues to challenge our survival. But with each milestone like this, we prove that Tuvalu will never give up. Together, we are reclaiming more than land. We are reclaiming our future.
Reclaiming land may reinforce the shoreline, yet it remains a stop gap. Enduring solutions demand the united resolve of the international community.
At the COP 30 climate conference 2025, Tuvalu's delegates voiced concern over the slow progress in cutting greenhouse gas emissions. We have greatly and gravely concerned about the slow progress in delivering significant emissions reductions to ensure our survival. Seeking rescue from the risk of submersion, Tuvallu has pressed the international community time and again.
The Tuvaluan minister once delivered a speech standing knee deep in rising waters to warn the threat of the global climate emergency. Preparing for the worst case scenario, Tuvalu is also building the world's first so-called digital nation, moving state functions online and preserving its culture, landscapes, and collective memory in virtual form.
Now, we're taking these practical steps because we must. We can't outrun the rising tides, but we will do what we can to protect our statethood, our spirit, and our tooling values. Then in November 2025, a treaty that could redefine many Tvaluan's futures was signed with Australia. The Falpeli Union Treaty expands cooperation on security and migration between the countries.
Under this treaty, Australia agreed to accept Tuvaluans selected by lottery people in this first year of the initiative. Winners receive permanent residency in Australia. So the moment you enter Australia, you are able to access all the benefits that Australian resident permanent resident allows you to access where they are able to access unemployment benefits and other educational allowances, and even access their medical and health services in Australia.
This year, Tuvalu held its first migration lottery. 8,750 people, about 90% of the population, applied. Why did you apply? because I'm afraid of the high tide and yeah because I heard it that the climate change came from the some of them they talking about the sea level going to go up and the island going to go down that's why we I'm so worried because I don't want to die under you you did not apply no I don't want to go anywhere I just want to stay He ain't too bad because his worries is better than other place. I copo and his family beat the odds of roughly one in 30 and one falipely visas. Their main reason for moving their 12year-old daughter Pua Vasa mainly is our for our daughter to have a good education in Australia. The education system in Australia it's more advancing. How do you feel about going to Australia? Are you excited? No. No. Not really. I want to stay here with my friends. Okay. Plans to stay temporarily with his relatives in Brisbane while securing housing and work. My cousin, he's working at the coal mine, so I planned to get into the mine job. We are also looking at the edge care job, cleaning jobs, anything to get our hands on like to get started. We just wanted to explore like opportunities given to us to find a better life.
While many Tuvaluans like Yakopo look to relocation with hope for a new life, mass migration also raises the spectre of a severe brain drain. If the relocation continues at the current pace, projections suggest Tuvallu could lose its entire population within 35 years. A hollowing out many experts fear. building a house, a community hall. We need the youth to be there to do the fishing to do the hard work. I know the majority who applied to be young people, qualified people who who be going. It's important for the government to really look into this and have a study on on on the apex of falipi.
Tuvallu is the world's most aid dependent nation. As its population shrinks, development support may fade. Yet, Prime Minister Teo continues to stress the treaty's significance. “We cannot stop migration. It's a natural occurrence. But as a responsible government, we need to make sure that people that for their own reason wants to migrate to other countries we are obliged to provide them pathways that assured their dignity. It gives to balance that traveling under this pathway certainty that they will not be abused or or mistreated in their in in Australia.”
Prime Minister Teo has declared that Tuvaluans will be able to live in Australia with dignity. Yet for Yakopo, who has already committed to relocation, a lingering unease remains. I was going over the YouTube about and I saw that there's a match on in Australia against the migrants. I was worried if if we go there then Australian people they might think of us as because they don't want us there in Australia.
Australia meanwhile is grappling with its own tensions. A severe urban housing crunch has fueled resentment towards immigrants. Large anti-immigration rallies swept the country in August and October. And our government is bringing more and more people in. Our kids struggling to get homes. Our hospitals we have to wait 7 hours. We have to slow down immigration.
At the same time, counterprotests also broke out, denouncing the anti-immigration rallies as racist. Say it loud. Say it clear. Say it loud. Realistically, we have a housing crisis, but it's the government and other far-right groups are scapegoating migrants and blaming them for issues that have been government policy for a long time. So, issue migrants are coming here. They're building our country. They're helping us. They're working hard for our country. In a nation long known for its openness to newcomers, anti-immigrant anger is now unmistakably rising.
How do Tuvaluans already living in Australia feel about this trend? Nu Boland who also left Tuvalu with his family in is now involved in building the infrastructure works in Melbourne. There's a shop there. There's a lack of understanding and a very big um very big idea of people being ignorant really. But I do think the majority of Australians aren't with them. You know, don't let that discourage you from making that move to Australia cuz it is a great country to live in, you know, like it's one of those countries where you can provide more for your family, you know, with the opportunities they have here.
Melbourne and Brisbane have communities of Tuvaluans who have migrated there and events and gatherings are held regularly within those communities. The system allowing tuvaluans to obtain permanent residency under the fali treaty has become a central topic of conversation. A lot of talks, a lot of good vibe, good feedback from everyone's, you know, it's a good thing for Touvalu. I'm glad that Australia stepped up and it's good for my people to have hope and a place where they can still um live their dreams. The treaty stands as a bridge to dreams and hope.
But the treaty also mirrors Australia's strategic calculations. The underlying factor is China's growing presence in the South Pacific. Tuvalu is one of just three Pacific nations that maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan and relies on Taiwanese support for agriculture, land reclamation, and other projects. Over the past four decades, we have worked hand in hand with Tuvalu government and we are so glad to see that our support and our investment, our contribution in Tubalu will help Touvalu to pave the way for their sustainable development. Seeking to sever Taiwan Tuvalu ties, China has approached Tuvalu to establish diplomatic relations. In a bid to check Beijing, the Falipili treaty appears to include clauses restricting Tuvalu's freedom to sign security pacts with other countries.
Back on Tuvalu, Iako took us by boat to an outer island about 30 minutes from his home, offering a glimpse of traditional Tuvaluan life. When I was primary. This is what what we learn from school from the Tuval culture. We learn how to make this. If you have no no money here in Tuvalu, you can survive. You go to the bush, bring the what? The coconuts and then you eat. Bring the fish. No, no money. You can sleep inside your house without locking your doors. You can sleep outside the runway or the and anywhere just no no trouble. We miss Tuvalu about the life. The lifestyle here in Tuvalu is peaceful and easy. Carrying both hope and unease, he has decided to move to Australia with his wife and daughter. Hopefully to get the better education in Australia and find a suitable job and when I get the qualification in in University of Australia, hopefully I can come back and build our economy.
Many people we interviewed said they hope to return to Tuvalu someday. Yet their voices also carry the quiet understanding of how unlikely that may be. What will migration under the Falepili treaty bring to Tuvalu? The future of this small island nation is on the cusp of transformation.
