Pacific leaders watch Tuvalu reclamation effort ahead of UN climate meet

FUNAFUTI – Representatives of 30 nations watched on Oct 6 as white sand dredged from an atoll lagoon was used to reclaim land from the ocean in a fight by the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu to keep its main island from being lost to rising waves.A group of coral island clusters with about 10,000 inhabitants whose land is on average just 2m above sea level, Tuvalu is one of the nations most vulnerable to climate change.“You are standing on frontline soil,” Foreign Minister Paulson Panapa told the leaders gathered ahead of pre-COP, a preparatory conference for the United Nations COP31 climate forum in Turkey in November.“Promises will not hold back rising tides... what this moment requires is decisive delivery.”The reclamation effort on Oct 6, spread over 6ha, is part of work costing about US$50 million (S$64 million) of donor funds that also built sea walls and barriers to protect land.“We are sinking,” said Faiva Namoliki, a 39-year-old architect huddled in a sodden jacket in pouring rain outside the event.“Here they see the reality,” he said of the visitors. “We hope they will carry those messages away with them and it will make a difference.”Rising sea levelsSea levels around Tuvalu have risen about 15cm in the three decades to 2023, say NASA researchers, or twice as rapid as the global average.“Small amounts of sea level rise make a very big difference in making flood events bigger and more damaging,” Jamie Ovia, the head of Tuvalu’s climate change department, told the leaders.“If we add just 30cm of sea level rise – expected by 2050 – this supercharges the flooding and makes it drastically bigger than floods we would have seen every 100 years in the past.”Such inundations would be economically crippling, he added.Pre-COP events are typically technocratic meetings of climate negotiators but Australia, which is leading the talks in 2026, aimed with its Pacific partners to highlight the issue of rising sea levels through the Tuvalu gathering.It also seeks to bolster Australia’s ties in the region and counter growing Chinese influence.But attendance fell short, with 11 of the Australian government’s tally of 14 attending presidents and prime hailing from Pacific islands. The rest came from Australia, Mauritius and East Timor.Dignitaries arrived amid heavy rains, to be handed umbrellas as they descended from aircraft in matching bright blue patterned shirts, before a traditional song performance by dancers, drummers and singers with flower headbands.Significant additions to land massThe project highlighted on Oct 6 is the third in a series that will soon have added about 21ha to Tuvalu’s main island, project manager Alan Resture told the visitors.The additions are significant in a nation with a total landmass of around 26 sq km, about twice the size of a large airport.Pacific nations have been at the forefront of efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 deg C to avoid its worst effects – a threshold the world is set to exceed in the coming years.“Every fraction of a degree matters,” Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Teo told the visiting leaders.Australia is bankrolling pre-COP but has also drawn fire as a major exporter of coal and gas that continues to approve approve fossil projects.“Here in Tuvalu we are seeing what action can look like,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. “It’s about people.” REUTERS