Almost a third of Tuvaluans apply for climate transfer visas

How does it feel to lose your home due to climate change? About 10,000 residents of Tuvalu will become the first in the world to face this question.

With an average sea level height of less than 3 meters, Tuvalu will become completely inhabited on the course Floods, storm surges, erosion. By 2100, sea levels are projected to rise by 72 centimeters, and the Coral Atoll Archipelago, which is roughly in the middle between Australia and Hawaii, is expected to experience flooding almost a third each year.

However, the Tuvalu people are offered escape routes. In late 2023, the Australian government announced that it would launch an effective equivalent to the world’s first planned migration nationwide.

Australia-Under the Australian-Tubal-Falapilli Union Treaty, 280 Tubalans are granted to Australian residents each year through a vote. The first lottery opened on June 16th this year, and has already been applied to 3,125 citizens (almost a third of the country’s population). The deadline for registering for this year’s lottery is July 18th.

In a statement New ScientistThe Australian government said it is aware of “the catastrophic impacts of climate change, particularly the Pacific region, which is hit by climate, security, and welfare.”

“This is the first agreement of that kind anywhere in the world, providing a pathway for mobility with dignity as the climate deteriorates,” the government said.

Successful applicants will need to know the lottery results by the end of July, and the first migrants are expected to arrive in Australia by the end of the year.

Bateteba aselu He is a PhD student at the University of Melbourne in Australia and explores the challenges that climate change poses to his fellow citizens. Asel is currently receiving a student visa in Australia while completing her studies, but is considering submitting an application to join her husband for this year’s vote. Her son, who has just graduated from high school, has already applied.

She says the effects of climate change are already felt as freshwater aquifers underlying Tuvalu atolls, which are important for agriculture and drinking water, are permeating the seawater due to rising seawater. This means people have to pull crops out of the ground to keep salt at bay.

Stephen Howes The Australian National University in Canberra states that the new visa is “very liberal” and has full access to almost all Australian health and social security benefits without discrimination based on chronic health status, disability, age or other exclusions.

The agreement is ostensibly about helping Tubal deal with the imminent climate crisis, but Australia’s awards are to prevent China from pushing for power in the Pacific, Howes says. The treaty provides that Australia and Tubal “must agree with each other to the issues of security and defense agreements between the island states and other countries.

“I described it as a security transition agreement,” says Howes. “Climate change offers framing, but that’s an arrangement that gives Australia privileged security treatment in return for Australia to give Tubal a privileged migration treatment.”

Jane McAdam At the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Tuvalu says there are diverse views on what the future holds. People told her that the island is now underwater and not. She also says that there are elderly people who say they never leave and die on the island.

However, McAdam sees the new transition scheme as “decent and positive.” One important aspect is that once Tuvaluan obtains a visa, he can either return home as often as he please, or even live there until the situation in the atoll becomes too miserable.

It’s “like an oxygen mask on an airplane,” says McAdam. “Hopefully you don’t need it, but you’re very grateful that it’s there.”

Wesley MorganHe also said that he was at the University of New South Wales, but that if conditions worsened, Tubalans had limited options for escape. This agreement can be extended to other countries in similar circumstances, such as Kiliberty.

“This is a potential precedent and the first global where travel paths are explicitly linked to climate change and sea level rise,” Morgan says. “And I think that due to these unique circumstances, Australia may pursue similar arrangements with Kiliberty in the future.”

The remaining issue for the Tuvaluan people is how they resolve their identity and sovereignty after they leave the island. Are they Tubalandia diaspora or a nation in climate exile?

“If there’s a place you grew up in and something happened and it had to move, how would you feel?” Asel says. “Do you get lost? Yes. So I think it’s the feeling you have anywhere in the world where you lose the place you love and the place you belong and feel that you’ve been identified.

“Because you grew up there. That’s where your history is. It’s where you identify regardless of where your family comes from and where you are in the world.