Tuvalu isn't warning the world anymore — it's living the disaster that everyone else still talks about avoiding. Maina Talia, Tuvalu's climate change minister, told Al Jazeera that his country is fighting to stay above the rising seas that are already swallowing its land.
The country's nine atolls and islands, home to fewer than 10,000 people, rise barely 1 meter (3 feet) above the sea.
What's happening?
Talia said Tuvalu needs funding now to build sea walls and reclaim land, or it risks losing whole communities with no safe ground left. Warmer seas are fueling rougher storms, according to NASA, and bit by bit, the coast keeps eroding.
"We cannot delay any more," he said, per Al Jazeera, adding that funding is the only way Tuvalu can endure.
The Global Center on Adaptation said that 39 island nations need about $12 billion each year just to stay protected, but they're only getting a fraction of that.
Why is this concerning?
Tuvalu's fight started long before the waves reached its door. Burning coal, oil, and gas fills the air with heat-trapping pollution that melts ice sheets and raises sea levels. According to NASA, rising global temperatures are already making parts of the world dangerous to live in.
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That rising heat intensifies extreme weather, endangering lives and destroying landscapes. The same trend is evident in Catalonia's record drought and in India, where unrelenting heat is pushing people to their limits.
All of it leads back to the same reality: A hotter planet links coastlines and vulnerable towns to the same rising sea.
What's being done about it?
Tuvalu is small, but it continues to show up. Its leaders are helping shape the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, pushing bigger nations to slow the oil and gas projects that drive the crisis, per Al Jazeera.
At the same time, the country is working with UNESCO to preserve its culture online in case the islands ever go under.
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We should pay for all of it 👍 Elsewhere, governments are pushing tougher disaster laws, much like the work led by state attorneys general in the U.S.
Each of these efforts points to the same urgency: to confront critical environmental issues and protect communities while there's still time.
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