“Where are you from?” is one of the first questions people ask one another. For a Tuvaluan child born today, the answer may not be simple by the time they finish school. Rising seas could swallow the land that roots our identity.
This week, world leaders gather in New York for the United Nations General Assembly high-level week. Headlines will be dominated by war and conflict. Yet governments must also turn their attention to crises that are eroding the foundations of international stability. Chief among them is sea-level rise. This is not an abstract problem; rising waters threaten more than a billion people in low-lying areas worldwide.
For Tuvalu, climate change is not tomorrow’s threat; it is today’s reality. Saltwater seeps into gardens, storms batter homes, and flooding disrupts daily life. Many countries are acknowledging the urgency of action as the process towards the UN Summit on Sea-Level Rise in 2026 begins soon. The summit offers a moment to secure shared long-term commitments meaning that island nations like mine are not left to confront the literal disappearance of our homelands in isolation.
I am proud to say that from one of the world’s smallest nations under existential threat come some of the boldest actions. We have amended our Constitution to declare our Statehood in perpetuity and our maritime boundaries permanent, no matter what happens to our physical land. We also welcome the Falepili Union Treaty with Australia , which affirms Tuvalu’s statehood despite the impacts of climate change and advances climate mobility with dignity and rights.
We are archiving our culture, building a national museum, and seeking UNESCO World Heritage status. With international partners, we are creating a permanent digital repository of traditions and history so that our heritage lives on. This ensures our culture is safeguarded despite the climate crisis, and is accessible to all Tuvaluans at home and abroad.
Read more: The Climate Crisis Is Making the Pacific Islands Uninhabitable. Who Will Help Preserve Our Nations?
Adaptation for us means more than defending coastlines. Through the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project, we are reclaiming land and reinforcing shores with nature-based defences. Our meteorological services now use advanced forecasting to give communities precious time to prepare for extreme weather events such as storms and droughts. Adaptation is not abandonment; it is actively ensuring that sovereignty and identity endure.
Tuvalu’s economy also depends on our Exclusive Economic Zone, an area of 200 nautical miles around the land which provides us with nearly half of our GDP from fishing and seabed resources. We also earn meaningful revenue from our .tv internet domain name. Our young people carry this vision forward, speaking for ancestors who shaped our islands and for generations unborn. Through the Rising Nations Initiative’s Youth Forum, Tuvaluan voices now echo in the halls of the United Nations and at global climate talks.
With the UN Global Centre for Climate Mobility, we are also piloting new ways of delivering climate finance where it is needed most. The Communities Climate Adaptation Facility provides rapid-response grants directly to communities on the frontlines. Unlike most climate finance, which often arrives too late or funds only large infrastructure, this facility supports community-led solutions that help families remain in place, respond to threats, and build resilience. Through one pilot grant, the Tuvalu Maritime Training Institute restored critical training equipment, keeping our seafarers certified and the maritime economy moving. International leaders are calling for the rapid scaling of such locally led funds, alongside climate risk insurance, green and blue bonds, and blended finance, to assist frontline communities everywhere.
The world often debates climate change in the language of science and economics. That is all well and good, but for us, its physical manifestation is wet, salty, and immediately threatening. The unfortunate reality is that relocation, once unthinkable, is no longer theoretical.
The seas are rising. But our resolve rises faster. We will endure. Through the Rising Nations Initiative, Tuvalu stands with partners to show how we will withstand the threats posed by rising seas.
What we must do is as plain as the open horizon. As the seas move forward, so too must our ideas and the very expression of what it means to be Tuvaluan.
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