Climate Change Challenges Tuvalu 1 This information booklet was compiled within the Table of Contents: Climate Responsibility Campaign of Germanwatch in cooperation with the Pacific Information Desk. Climate Change challenges Tuvalu ................................................................................................... 4 A German version of this booklet can be down- The Sea Determines Life on Tuvalu - Sea Level Rise as Well ................................................................ 6 loaded at www.klimaausbadekampagne.de Many Small Islets no Longer Exist - Storm Surge and Flood Risks .....................................................…. 7 Coral Reefs - Rainforests of The Sea ................................................................................................. 8 For further information see www.climateresponsibility.org Tuvalu Shrinks ............................................................................................................................... 9 At risk: Food Security ....................................................................................................................10 or contact: Shortage of Potable Water ............................................................................................................ 12 Germanwatch Human Health .............................................................................................................................. 14 Bonn Office Last Exit: Migration ...................................................................................................................... 15 Kaiserstraße 201 D-53113 Bonn World’s First Climate Refuges? .......................................................................................................17 Germany Law Suits of the future ...................................................................................................................18 Ph: +49 (0) 228 - 60492-0 E-Mail: [email protected] Germanwatch Berlin Office Voßstraße 1 D-10117 Berlin Germany Ph: +49 (0) 30 - 28 88 356-0 E-Mail: [email protected] "It's now coming back to haunt us that in Rio we hardly con- cerned ourselves with the monitoring and suability of the www.germanwatch.org agreements. [...] It would be important to have [...] a frame- work convention for environmental liability. Liability is the decisive economical instrument that demands commitment." Klaus Töpfer, general director UNEP; DIE ZEIT, May 8, 2002 Authors: Holley Ralston, Britta Horstmann, Carina Holl We thank Peter Bennetts, Peter McQuarrie, Roda Verheyen, Ingrid Schilsky and Silke Hillen- brand for their support. Layout: ART:BÜRO Dietmar Putscher, Cologne [email protected] © Germanwatch 2004 With financial support of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Damages caused by a storm on Vaitupu Island (photo: McQuarrie) 2 3 This information booklet was compiled within the Table of Contents: Climate Responsibility Campaign of Germanwatch in cooperation with the Pacific Information Desk. Climate Change challenges Tuvalu ................................................................................................... 4 A German version of this booklet can be down- The Sea Determines Life on Tuvalu - Sea Level Rise as Well ................................................................ 6 loaded at www.klimaausbadekampagne.de Many Small Islets no Longer Exist - Storm Surge and Flood Risks .....................................................…. 7 Coral Reefs - Rainforests of The Sea ................................................................................................. 8 For further information see www.climateresponsibility.org Tuvalu Shrinks ............................................................................................................................... 9 At risk: Food Security ....................................................................................................................10 or contact: Shortage of Potable Water ............................................................................................................ 12 Germanwatch Human Health .............................................................................................................................. 14 Bonn Office Last Exit: Migration ...................................................................................................................... 15 Kaiserstraße 201 D-53113 Bonn World’s First Climate Refuges? .......................................................................................................17 Germany Law Suits of the future ...................................................................................................................18 Ph: +49 (0) 228 - 60492-0 E-Mail: [email protected] Germanwatch Berlin Office Voßstraße 1 D-10117 Berlin Germany Ph: +49 (0) 30 - 28 88 356-0 E-Mail: [email protected] "It's now coming back to haunt us that in Rio we hardly con- cerned ourselves with the monitoring and suability of the www.germanwatch.org agreements. [...] It would be important to have [...] a frame- work convention for environmental liability. Liability is the decisive economical instrument that demands commitment." Klaus Töpfer, general director UNEP; DIE ZEIT, May 8, 2002 Authors: Holley Ralston, Britta Horstmann, Carina Holl We thank Peter Bennetts, Peter McQuarrie, Roda Verheyen, Ingrid Schilsky and Silke Hillen- brand for their support. Layout: ART:BÜRO Dietmar Putscher, Cologne [email protected] © Germanwatch 2004 With financial support of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Damages caused by a storm on Vaitupu Island (photo: McQuarrie) 2 3 Climate Change challenges Tuvalu Facts and Figures "We don’t want to leave this place. We don’t want (IPCC, see box 2) states that there will be a warming to leave, it’s our land, our God given land, it is our of global temperatures and a rise of the sea level by Population (2003) 11,305 (Germany: 82,398,326) culture, we can’t leave. People won’t leave until the up to almost one meter. Population density 347 people/sq.km (Germany: 231 people/sq.km) very last minute.” Population Growth Rate 1.42 % (Germany: 0.04 %) With these dramatic words, Paani Laupepa, the How is such a country in peril, like Tuvalu, com- Life expectancy at birth female: 69, male: 65 former assistant secretary at Tuvalu's Ministry of prised of nine small low-lying islands in the South (Germany: female: 81, male: 75) Natural Resources, Energy and Environment, ex- Pacific, affected by climate change? How can it pro- Adult literacy rate (age 15 and above) 98 % (Germany: 99%) pressed the feelings of many Tuvaluans when it tect itself from this intangible threat, especially Real GDP per capita/annum (2000) US$ 1,157 (Germany: US$ 26,200) comes to the worst-case scenario of climate change when there is no precedent for such action? Tuvalu Official Development Assistance and its effects on small island nations. has raised these questions. (ODA) received (net disbursements) total (2001) US$ 9.5 million ODA received (net disbursements) per capita (2001) US$ 920.1 The scenarios and warnings of international scien- Solutions will have to be created to avoid catastro- tists on climate change and its inevitable conse- phes. Consistent international action like the imple- (source: CIA 2003, UNDP 1999, UNDP 2003; years in brackets refer to reference year of data) quences must be like a constant Damocles Sword mentation of the Kyoto Protocol, however, is still for the inhabitants of Tuvalu. For the 21st century, missing, despite the fact that Tuvalu, for example, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is already experiencing adverse changes. There- fore, what else has to happen to convince govern- ments to take meaningful action? Vaitupu Island; a roof collapsed due to a storm. (photo: McQuarrie) Funafuti, Lagoon Beach; With only 26 km2, Tuvalu is one of smallest states worldwide. It consists of 9 island groups. One of these is the capital Funafuti (photo: Mc Quarrie). figure: map_SOA_UN.pdf (United Nations Cartographic Service) Box 1: Tuvalu Box 2: The IPCC Tuvalu, formally a British colony known as the Vaitupu, Nukufetau, Funafuti (the capital) and The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Every five years it summarizes the scientific litera- Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, is an indepen- Nukulaelae - and three which are raised limestone (IPCC) was established in 1988 by the World Mete- ture in a consensus report, which is discussed and dent constitutional monarchy in the southwest Pa- reef islands - Nanumanga, Niutao, and Niulakita. orological Organization (WMO) and the United agreed on by hundreds of scientists worldwide. cific Ocean, located halfway between Hawaii and Tuvalu is one of the world’s smallest and most iso- Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to assess The IPCC is open to all members of the UN and the Australia. lated island nations. All together the islands have scientific, technical and socio-economic informa- WMO. Tuvalu means "group of eight,” referring to the a total of 26 square kilometers - which is one quar- tion in an effort to further understand climate country's eight traditionally inhabited islands. ter the size of the city of Bonn - none of which rise change, its potential impacts, and options for For further information see: www.ipcc.ch; Today it consists of nine small islands, six of which more than three meters above sea level. adaptation and mitigation. http://www.germanwatch.org/rio/bpipcc01.htm