Tuvalu it is a very small Island of Pacifican archipelago consisting of coral islands and atols halfway between Australia and Hawaii for a total of 26 square kilometers of surface and less than 10,000 inhabitants. Literally surrounded by an ocean of water, Tuvalu has been in the media spotlight for some time for a curious and bold project: the mass migration of its population. The reason? Raising the sea level caused by climate change.
What is going on in Tuvalu: the threat of climate change
Given the average altitude of the country (less than 2 meters, being composed of small islands), we can very well understand their vulnerability in the face of the problem ofSea level raising: The small state is in fact slowly sinking.
According to the report Assessment of Sea Level Rise and Associated Impacts for Tuvalupublished by NASA, in the last 30 years the sea level in Tuvalu has increased abnormally by about 15 cmwith an average rate of 5 mm/year And currently increasing.
It might seem like a insignificant figure, but if the trend is confirmed, or even worsen, by the end of the century the sea level in Tuvalu could increase of 1 meteror even 2: at this point, much of the country’s territory would be under the sea levelbut the environmental crisis would begin much earlier.
They would not be only the floodsin fact, to represent a problem (in any case not insignificant for the lives of people and the conservation of buildings and infrastructures), but everything would be further complicated by the progressive La Salinization of the slopeswhich would compromise water supply and would make the existence agriculture only impractical.
Mass migration
This condition, not sustainable in the long run, if not through imposing and very expensive engineering works, has pushed the administration of Tuvale to consider the migration of its population as the only immediately acceptable solution.
The project sees the direct collaboration with the neighbor Australia: in June 2025 the first announcement of the Falpili Mobility Pathwaya program that will allow up to 280 citizens of Tuvalu per year to move, work and study in Australia.
The initiative is part of the already existing Falepili Union Treatystarted in 2023 in response to Tuvalu’s request for concrete support in the face of the growing threat of the sea in the sea. If in the next decades, all the inhabitants of Tuvalu should move, we would be faced with the First planned migration of an entire country due to climate change.
