Tuvalu: Climate Adaptation Issues

TUVALU CLIMATE ADAPTATION REPORT

Prepared by Kim Stewart BA, BSc (honsA)
for Friends of the Earth Australia, 2005.

Contents:

1. TUVALU: Introduction
2. TUVALU: environmental risks & mitigation efforts
3. TUVALU: food & water
4. TUVALU: communications and emergency response issues
5. TUVALU: refugees
6. TUVALU: overseas aid programmes
7. TUVALU: grass roots programmes

1. TUVALU: Introduction

The nine atoll islands that make up the nation of Tuvalu have many factors that disadvantage them with regards to climate change. Isolation, the delicacy of the natural environment, the low lying nature of the atolls, the small economic base and poor communications and transportation infrastructure means that Tuvalu can easily be devastated by changing weather patterns, cyclones and rising sea levels.

In 2002, then-Prime Minister Koloa Talake announced plans to sue the United States and Australia at the International Court of Justice in the Hague over their disproportionate production of carbon dioxide emissions. The suit was never filed because Talake failed in his bid to be re-elected later that year, but the potential suit garnered great media attention.

Very few local programmes have been implemented to mitigate the effects of a changing climate, largely due to poor communication on the environmental risks to the population and the relative poverty for such programmes.

"a 1996 assessment of climate change impacts and adaptation carried out for Tuvalu by the Environment agency of Japan and the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), convincingly concluded that, I quote, ".. because of its location and physical nature, Tuvalu is particularly susceptible to the adverse impacts of climate change and in particular rising sea level". Unquote. This conclusion spells it all out, and is consistent with the findings highlighted in the second assessment report of the IPCC. Added to which is the conclusion from many scientific studies that coral reef islands like my very own, will be uninhabitable when sea level rises as a result of global warming and climate change." 1997, Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Bikenibeu Paeniu, Special Envoy on Climate Change Speech to COP3.

2. TUVALU: environmental risks

Sea-level rise: As a low lying nation Tuvalu is especially susceptible to changes in sea level and storm patterns that hit the island. Tuvaluans are worried about the submerging of the islands and a growing number have left the island. “The Tuvaluan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Lagitupu Tuilimu, stated in 2001 that scientists have predicted countries like Tuvalu will be totally submerged within around fifty years” FoE 2005)”

“John Hunter, an oceanographer in Hobart, Tasmania, reanalyzed the NTC’s records in combination with other data and found that sea level at Funafuti was in fact rising at about the same rate as the global mean. He also found that tidal maximums and minimums were growing more extreme year by year. As of this past December, the data from the Funafuti station show that sea level has risen there an average of 0.22 inches annually over the past decade.” (Allen 2005).

Storms & Cyclones: There has been an increase in the severity and frequency of storms. Cycone activity has increased markedly. Cyclones like Heta which struck Tuvalu in 1997, have the capacity to decimate the islands fragile ecosystems and hence the economy, especially the subsistence economy.

Climatologists say Tuvalu is already experiencing more extreme weather events. NZ scienteist Jim Salinger, an IPCC author, says, “As you heat up the atmosphere, it rains harder when it rains; but when it doesn’t, things dry out faster because it’s hotter. You get more flooding and more drought.” And that, “El Niños push cyclones toward Tuvalu.” (in Allen 2005).

Unlike other islands, Tuvalu is based on a volcano without a continental shelf to dissipate waves which may also exacerbate the effects of tsunamis and distant storms.

Erosion: Over the past decade, the islands have seen a disappearance of 3 metres of beachfront. Increased severity of storms is slowly depleting the islands both of land mass and the trees to hold it together.

“Ecologist Ursula Kaly says the serious erosion along Funafuti’s lagoon-front was set in motion by the wartime backfilling and building of sea walls, most of which disintegrated long ago.
Mataio Tekinene, Tuvalu’s director of environment, shows me where the coral building materials for Funafuti’s runway, sea walls and a dozen other World War II projects came from—deep pits in the porous coralline ground now filled with brackish water and trash. Islanders fear that a big storm could force churning seas through the pits and break through to the lagoon, flooding the island.”

“Residents quarried for rocks, gravel and even sand for building materials, Tekinene says, promoting erosion. These days, construction materials for big projects must be imported. International aid organizations have also contributed to the problem—for instance, by encouraging Tuvaluans in the late
1980s to replenish a sea wall with beach rubble tossed ashore by a cyclone. The wall has disintegrated, and the shoreline, once protected by the rubble, is exposed.”(Allen 2005).

Salt-water incursion: Tuvalu has no sources of spring water and relies entirely on rainwater to fill the fresh water lens. A combination of local pollution and salt-water incursion from high-tides and storm activity has compromised the availability of fresh water on the islands.

3. TUVALU: food & water

“Salt-water intrusion reduces the land's productive capabilities and has already affected communal crop gardens on six of Tuvalu's eight islands. In addition, the increased incidence of coral bleaching from rising ocean temperatures is depleting astisanal fisheries1. Coral reefs provide an environment for subsistence fishing across the Pacific, especially coastal fishing and are therefore critical to the survival of small island states.” (FoEA:2005) However, “Coral reefs would be negatively affected by bleaching and by reduced calcification rates due to higher CO2 levels; mangrove, sea grass bed, and other coastal ecosystems and the associated biodiversity would be adversely affected by rising temperatures and accelerated sea-level rise.” Compromising the nations ability to feed itself (SPREP:2003).

Tuvalu's small land mass (only 26 sq. km) limits agricultural production. Even fisheries are largely only subsistence based, "With respect to employment, census data shows that fisheries accounts for about 5% of all formal cash employment and about 20% of subsistence activities."(FAO 2005).

When Suila Toloa of TANGO visited Australia in 2004 she told us that in some areas people were forced to grow foods such as taro and sweet potato in buckets to protect them from the salt-water.

“A further significant threat to domestic and export food supplies is seawater intrusion to soils and reduction of the freshwater lens (due to increasing sea-level rise and freshwater demand). Taro, a swamp-grown staple crop harvested throughout the Pacific Islands, is at particular risk of seawater intrusion and damage (Wilkinson and Buddemeier 1994). For example, Kiribati’s production of the staple crop pulaka (giant taro) is expected to be severely reduced due to changes in freshwater quality (East-West Center 2001). Reduction in the food supply has obvious ramifications for the physical health of these populations, but it would also have broader repercussions given the central role of pulaka in Tuvaluan society” (SPREP 1996 in McMichael et al 2002 ).

In a presentation to UNESCO, Imogen P. Ingram from the Ipukarea Society (an environmental NGO) said that fresh water was a priority to many islanders and that “Capture of rainwater will become increasingly important,” and that programmes of aid should target:
“•Finance for water tanks
•For the high Southern Group islands, authorities need to minimise leakages from mains water systems
•For both types of islands, use of hydroponics for agriculture
•helps to cope with salt intrusion into ground water and to conserve water during droughts
•Change bank housing loan policies so that water tanks are mandatory
•Desalinisation plants are available but at a major cost, and
•Funding would have to be sourced
•Education and awareness about water conservation would have to be on-going”

4. TUVALU: communications and emergency response

"Even by Pacific Island standards, Tuvalu is quite isolated. There is presently only air service from Fiji and only Funafuti has a useable landing strip. Some of the other islands lack even a pass in the reef to allow the government passenger/cargo boat to enter the lagoon.” (FAO 2005)

Inter-island communication is mostly by small boats or by radio-phone. The international telephone network is tentative at best. In December 2005 Tuvalu was cut off from the outside world for two weeks when telephone lines were defective. There is only one Radio station, “Radio Tuvalu”. In 2002 Tuvalu communications were disrupted when there was a civil unrest in Fiji. "Tuvalu relies a lot on Fiji for its communications (services)," Tuvalu Secretary of Government Saufatu Sopoanga said. "Any disruptions (in Fiji) have a direct impact on Tuvalu's communications with the outside world." (ABC:2002)

In 2004 when Tuvaluan member of the Tuvaulan Association of NGOs Suila Toloa visited Australia, she told Friends of the Earth hosts that there was “only one boat” to provide communication between the capital Funafuti and the outlying islands after the disastrous cyclone Heta (2004 Personal communication with author). In a 2002 assessment there were only 4 merchant ships servicing the islands and with no military there are no government supplied vessels for communication between island in emergencies. There is a small police rescue force.

5. TUVALU: refugees

In 2001 the New Zealand government agreed to take Tuvaluans as refugees. Since then almost 3000 Tuvaluans have migrated to NZ. The Australian government, in 2004, declared that they would not recognize Tuvaluans as environmental refugees. Despite this, the stringent requirement of migration to NZ means that the elderly, sick and poor will have great difficulty being accepted there (FoE 2005).

See Friend of the Earth Australia’s report "A Citizens Guide to Climate Refugees" for more info.

6. TUVALU: overseas aid programmes

To date most overseas aid to Tuvalu has not been for climate mitigation but for economic development. Given predictions of total submergence in 50 years, mitigation does not seem like a practical solution at this point. Nonetheless, the people of Tuvalu have still to live on their islands as long as practically possible.

European Development Fund financed: Coastal Protection Phase II Project and the Electrification Development Programme. Outer Island Social Development Support Programme (to 2007); it includes funding for Non-State Actors activities and aims to improve the areas of education, environmental protection and water supply in the outer islands.

AusAid & Asian Development Bank: A Number of Aid programmes in Tuvalu have focused on increasing the economic base through fisheries.

7. TUVALU: grassroots programmes

Grass roots programmes are traditionally more successful at achieving the aims of local populations. Cheryl Anderson, from the University of Hawaii Social Science Research Institute notes that “Small islands, watersheds, and coastal settlements---very localized areas---experience the strongest impacts of extreme climate events. Therefore, it is important to engage communities in planning to mitigate the impacts of these hazards. The disaster management community has incorporated local participation in risk and vulnerability assessments to identify potential hazard risks and develop mitigation strategies. The community living in the area knows the facilities, infrastructure, high-risk populations, and natural features that need protection, often better than those in public agencies who are disconnected from the land in their daily activities” (Anderson 2003).

Practically, local communities recognize a need to protect water and land through programmes of replanting and protection of the natural environment. Suilia Toloa, on her visit to Australia in 2004, told FoEA that as a school teacher she had be involved in tree planting.

Toloa noted that there seemed to be little environmental awareness amongst her students or the general population, although she was trying to remedy that. Those that were aware of global warming as a threat were either scared or piously believed that God would protect Tuvalu.

Conclusion

In her address to the public Suilia Toloa echoed what many island nations are saying, that their primary needs are help with education, communications, disaster management strategies and protection of the local environment as much as possible.

Although in many respects efforts at mitgation in Tuvalu seem in vain, the people of Tuvalu should be given the opportunity tol ive with dignity on thier ancestral lands as long as psosible.

"Taking us as environmental refugees, is not what Tuvalu is after in the long run. We want the islands of Tuvalu and our nation to remain permanently and not be submerged as a result of greed and uncontrolled consumption of industrialized countries. We want our children to grow up the way we grew up in our own islands and in our own culture" Tuvaluan Governor-General Sir Tomasi Puapua's contribution to the 57th Session of the UN General

References

1997, Tuvalu Bikenibeu Paeniu, PM Special Envoy on Climate Change Speech to COP3 link

Small Islands Developing States Network link

UN. 2005 "Environmental vulnerabilities of small island developing states" link to pdf

UN. 2005. "Resilience-building in small island developing States" link to pdf

Tuvalu Islands.com

FAO 2005. "Tuvalu Profile" (includes info about aid to the fisheries sector) link

Hilia Vavae, Director of the Tuvalu Meteorological Office

“Niue to "import" citizens from Tuvalu” link

Suila Toloa, 2004, Personal communication

FoEA 2005. A Citizens Guide to Climate Refugees link to pdf

Tuilimu, Lagitupu, Government of Tuvalu Statement to Third UN Conference on LDC, May 17, 2001 link

Anthony McMichael and Rosalie Woodruff etal.
2002 Human Health And Climate Change In Oceania: A Risk Assessment

Tuvalu Meteorological Service link

Allen, L. 2004. “Will Tuvalu Disappear Beneath the Sea?”
link to pdf

AidWatch 2004.. “Aiding and Abetting Climate Change The Australian aid budget and the energy sector” May 2004 www.aidwatch.org.au

COMMUNICATION AND PARTICIPATION IN THE PACIFIC:
LESSONS FOR ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE & VARIABILITY1
Cheryl L. Anderson, UH Social Science Research Institute

Adger, N 2004 et al “New indicators of vulnerability and adaptive capacity” Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Technical Report 7, Jan 2004.

AUAPAAU ANDRE VOLENTRAS 2003. “Climate Change Adaptation Issues In SIDS: Regional Perspective” SOUTH PACIFIC REGIONAL ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME
6TH MARCH, 2003

ABC 2002. link