US EditionAustralia receives first climate migrants from sinking Pacific nation Tuvalu
The 2023 Falepili Union pact enables up to 280 Tuvaluans annually to relocate to Australia, aiming to preserve livelihoods as sea-level rise threatens Tuvalu's habitability.
- On Dec 11, the first Tuvaluan climate migrants arrived in Australia, including Tuvalu's first female forklift driver, a dentist, and a pastor, while more than one-third of Tuvalu's population applied for the visa.
- Tuvalu's low elevations and water shortages have left it vulnerable, with 60 per cent of residents living on a 20m strip in Funafuti, which NASA scientists project could be half-submerged by 2050.
- Under the 2023 Falepili Union pact, up to 280 Tuvaluans a year can move to Australia, and Penny Wong said the visa offers `mobility with dignity` while Pacific governments, UN agencies and legal experts observe.
- Some new arrivals plan to work and send remittances home, exemplified by Kitai Haulapi moving to Melbourne, while dentist Masina Matolu will relocate to Darwin to support Australian Indigenous communities.
- Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Teo visited the Tuvaluan community in Melbourne last month to stress cultural ties as everyday Tuvaluan households face pressures living under thatched roofs on narrow atolls.
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First climate migrants arrive in Australia from sinking Tuvalu in South Pacific
The first climate migrants to leave the remote Pacific island nation of Tuvalu have arrived in Australia, hoping to preserve links to their sinking island home, foreign affairs officials said on Thursday.
The Independent
The Independent (US)Australia receives first climate migrants from sinking Pacific nation Tuvalu
Tuvalu is already losing ground to encroaching tides and storm surges and could be underwater by 2050
More than a third of Tuvalu's population of around ten thousand people have already applied for the climate visa required for immigration.
Australia offers a new shelter to people in the island state at risk of climate change, because rising sea levels could be a disaster for Tuvalu.
Tuvalu could soon sink into the sea as a result of climate change. Many inhabitants of the atolls are therefore forced to leave their homes. Now the first ones are about to arrive in Australia.
der Standard AT
der Standard DETheir entry takes place under an agreement between the two countries, which is intended to offer Tuvalus a new home to the inhabitants of Tuvalus.
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