Funafuti

Tuvalu is on the front line of climate change, facing rising sea levels and the threat of coastal erosion.

But with new research, it shows that despite sea level rising, the structure of Tuvalu's Funafuti Reef has remained stable for the past 120 years.

So is there hope beneath the waters in the fight against climate change? To help break this down for us, we're joined by lead author of A Coral Reef in Tuvalu is Holding Up to Climate Change, Professor Paul Kench.

Good morning, Professor, and welcome to Pacific Beat.

I mean, the coral reefs throughout the Pacific, particularly in Tuvalu where we've done this study, are under threat from a whole range of sources, climate change being one of them, major cyclones compounding that, and also the things that people are doing in those environments.

But what we don't have is really a record of exactly how the reef structures are changing and the implications of that for island communities.

So this is one of the first studies that is... quite unique in that we had a data set that spanned over a century of precisely what the structure of the reef at Funafuti was like.

And we went back and re-examined the same sites as those early explorers in the 1890s did to establish just how the reefs have responded over the last 120 years, over a period in which we know sea level has risen at least about 45 centimetres over that time.

We started the work, we have built that momentum and now it's time to go to Antalya as a collective region.

Can you tell me about the declaration that was mooted in Funafuti and brought to this forum? What do those words actually mean and why did the government of Tuvalu choose those words to name this declaration by?

The declaration is called Taku Pakasoa, and taku literally means mine or mine.

And Pakasoa Pa is the lua that was shaped or crafted from the mother pearl.

Look, I mean, these islands are very small, and they're very, very far apart from each other.

Funafuti Atoll, which is the capital of Tuvalu, is so small that when you land on a plane, by the time you can see the atoll, you could actually see every single house on it.

The colonial experience in the Pacific was a bit different because of that, and you say [laughs] workers who were sent involuntarily to Queensland is a very gentle way of saying slavery.

The slave trade in the Pacific was of a much, much smaller scale than the transatlantic slave trade, but it still existed, and I think it is a stain on our history that we should not forget.

[singing] [cheering]

Rain swept across Funafuti as the leaders arrived, but the welcome was warm.

There were drums, song, and handmade flower garlands.

Although Australia's prime minister and his climate minister chose not to wear theirs.

God's family.

We-

We-And that's the singing of Tuvalu's Vaieli Fuiono ending that report from Leema Navono in Funafuti.

Now, as we heard, the leaders flew back to Fiji after their first visit to Tuvalu to continue their pre-COP meeting.

Yandere Lede.

Ian Ravinaka, and I should say taloha to you, Agnes, from beautiful Funafuti.

Yes.

Look, we are glad that you're there.

It

is, Agnes, and you really get the sense of that from the people here because there's real pride.

Funafuti is such a tiny place.

There is absolutely nobody here or hardly anybody who is not involved anywhere.

Pre-COP is normally a pretty pedestrian affair, to be frank with you.

Um, we've sought to elevate the importance of Pre-COP to really lift Pacific voices in the lead-up to COP31, and to focus on the sorts of things that are at stake in our region, including going to Tu- Tuvalu, uh, where the sea levels have risen already by around fifteen centimeters over the last three decades and, and the capital, uh, Funafuti, is likely to be submerged at high tide by twenty thirty-five unless, uh, serious action is taken.

So we have, uh, around four thousand people coming, and we have an unprecedented series of events, a hundred and thirty-three events scheduled for this, uh, three to four-day period, which is much more than a normal, uh, Pre-COP.

We are taking thirty-six senior people to, to Tuvalu to really try and focus and, uh, underline the issues, uh, that are being dealt with.