Tuvalu – how do you save a disappearing country? | podcast | News

Rising sea levels means Tuvalu could be the first country in the world to become uninhabitable because of the climate crisis. Some of the low-lying Pacific islands country is already submerged, and sea water in the soil has made growing food very difficult.

The journalist Kalolaine Fainu travelled to Tuvalu to hear about how the people living there are coping and their extraordinary plans to protect their culture and nation as their land disappears.

Alongside international climate advocacy, land reclamation and shoring up sea defences, Fainu hears about a new idea: to preserve their nationhood and administration – and their culture – Tuvaluans are planning to create a “digital twin” of their island.

Hannah Moore hears about how people on the islands, including activists and politicians feel about this – and about Tuvalu’s unique culture and way of life that is at risk of being lost.

  • Additional sound recordings by Christopher Cobb



Photograph: Kalolaine Fainu/The Guardian

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