More than one-third of the residents in the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu, which scientists predict will be submerged by rising seas, have applied for a landmark climate visa to migrate to Australia, according to official figures.
More than 3000 Tuvaluans have applied for the first batch of visas that would allow them to live, work, and study in Australia.
The port at Funafuti, Tuvalu: Climate change poses an existential threat to the South Pacific nation.Credit: Getty
Tuvalu, one of the countries at greatest risk from climate change, which experts say is boosting sea levels, has a population of 11,000 on nine atolls scattered across the Pacific between Australia and Hawaii.
Tuvalu’s ambassador to the United Nations, Tapugao Falefou, told Reuters he was “startled by the huge number of people vying for this opportunity”, and the small community was interested to learn who the first lot of climate migrants would be.
By 2050, NASA scientists project daily tides will submerge half the main atoll of Funafuti, home to 60 per cent of Tuvalu’s residents, where villagers cling to a strip of land as narrow as 20 metres.
Tuvalu, whose mean elevation is just 2 metres, has experienced a sea-level rise of 15 cm over the past three decades, one and a half times the global average.
Applications close on July 18, with an annual cap of 280 visas to prevent brain drain from Tuvalu.
with Reuters
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