2023-11-10 15:35:06
Rights “specials” for the Tuvalais, who will be able to benefit from a “access to Australian services which will allow them mobility with dignity”. This is what the treaty signed between Australia and Tuvalu provides for on Friday November 10.
This Pacific archipelago is particularly exposed to rising sea levels, to the point that it should be completely submerged within eighty years, according to a study cited by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) .
Archipelagos threatened with disappearing by 2100
While recent estimates suggest that sea levels could rise by 60 centimeters to one meter by the end of the century, several archipelagos find themselves at risk of submergence.
In the Indian Ocean, the Maldives archipelago is the most exposed to rising water levels, and in the Pacific Ocean, this is the case of the Marshall Islands, the archipelagos of Tuvalu, Nauru, Tokelau and Kiribati .
Most are Atolian states free from “points at altitude where it would be possible to take refuge”, explains Géraldine Giraudeau, professor of law at Paris-Saclay University and specialist in Pacific territorial issues. In some cases, “these are extremely narrow strips of land, which are a few hundred meters, or even a few tens of meters wide”she specifies.
The Maldives are a good illustration of this, since 80% of the territory is less than a meter from sea level, according to the United States Geological Survey. It could therefore be one of the first nations to disappear before 2100.
On the Pacific side, the state most directly threatened by rising waters is the archipelago of Tuvalu, populated by 12,000 inhabitants. It is made up of nine atolls, two of which have already been submerged. By 2100, 95% of its territory will be submerged by high tides, which would make it uninhabitable. “In these areas, where access to drinking water is already fragile, soil salinization becomes an obstacle to life,” adds Géraldine Giraudeau.
According to one Australian scientific study published in 2016, five islands attached to the Solomon Archipelago, Kale, Rapita, Kakatina, Zollies and Rehana, have already completely disappeared. These uninhabited islands, up to five hectares in size, were home to significant vegetation.
Creation of artificial islands, maritime sovereignty
Aware that a similar scenario awaits them, many states are acting to save their existence. In Tuvalu, a reform came into force on October 1, 2023, an amendment of which states that « Tuvalu’s maritime zones, statehood and other rights are permanent, regardless of the effects that climate change may have on Tuvalu’s land territory.. The micro-state thus intends to continue to exist across its maritime surface of 900,000 km2.
Faced with the problem of overpopulation, the Maldives have, for their part, bet on artificial islands. In 1997, the government launched the titanic project of the new island of Hulhumalé, 1.6 km from Malé, the capital. This floating island, built two meters above the sea, today houses 90,000 inhabitants.
Another pharaonic project, that of a floating island called Maldives Floating City, whose budget is around 1 billion euros. Located off the coast of Malé, it should be able to accommodate 13,000 inhabitants from 2024. A project with a very high ecological cost since it led to the destruction of the coral reef, the seagrass beds, as well as the modification of the currents.
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