Australia offers lifeline to Tuvalu

Australia has offered the island nation of Tuvalu a lifeline to help residents escape rising seas and increasing storms brought about by climate change

Te Namo Lagoon
Fongafale
FUNAFUTI ATOLL
5km 3 miles

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (right) is offering to relocate 280 Tuvaluans to Australia every year (at which rate, it would take 40 years for Tuvalu’s entire population to migrate)

PROJECTED TUVALU SEA LEVEL RISES (m) 
2.0
1.6 
1.2 
0.4
0
2020 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 2100

Plausible upper estimate

Five projections based on possible 0.8 ice-sheet changes

SEA LEVEL RISE SINCE 1993

TUVALU
Polynesian archipelago (3 reef islands, 6 coral atolls, 100+ islets)

Prime Minister: Kausea Natano (above)

Largest habitation: Funafuti Atoll

Capital: Fongafale

Population: 11,000
  
GDP: $55m (2021 est.)

Area: 26km2
           
Highest elevation: 4.5m

AUSTRALIA
TUVALU
1000km 600 miles
 0cm 5 10 15 20
 

Sources: AP, NASA, Zenodo, CIA World Factbook Pictures: NASA, Getty © GRAPHIC NEWS