Facing the threat of getting wiped off the map by rising sea levels, the low-lying Pacific nation of Tuvalu is scrambling to relocate its entire population to Australia, all while preserving its islands and cultural heritage in a digital realm.
United Nations scientists predict that tidal waters will submerge 50% of land in Funafuti – Tuvalu’s capital and most populous atoll – by 2050, meaning that the world’s fourth-smallest country by area could soon be underwater if drastic action is not taken.
Climate visa lottery
With nowhere to go, 8,074 Tuvaluans aged 15-64 – comprising 80% of the country’s 10,643 people – tried their luck in a lottery for a permanent Australian ‘climate visa’ last month.
Only 280 will be granted visas to live, study, and work in Australia for the 2025-26 period through a random ballot, according to the Department of Home Affairs in Canberra.
Given such an annual cap, the relocation of Tuvaluans to Australia would require at least 40 years to be completed.
The climate visa lottery is part of the 2023 Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union treaty, an agreement deemed “the first of its kind anywhere in the world” by its supporters.
Under the treaty, Australia affirms its commitment to supporting Tuvalu’s continued statehood and sovereignty while providing climate mitigation measures to Tuvaluans staying in their homeland.
For 2025-26 alone, Canberra has earmarked AU$47 million ($30.52 million) in development assistance for climate adaptation, telecommunications, infrastructure, health, and education projects in Tuvalu, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in June.
READ MORE: Climate change pushes Asian nations to extreme weather patterns
First ‘digital nation’
Aside from relocating its citizens to Australia, Tuvalu is also developing the world’s first ‘digital nation’ in the metaverse.
At the 27th UN climate summit in 2022, Tuvaluan Foreign Minister Simon Kofe announced an ambitious bid to “digitally recreate [Tuvalu’s] land, archive its rich history and culture, and move all governmental functions into a digital space”.
“Tuvalu could be the first country in the world to exist solely in cyberspace. But if global warming continues unchecked, it won’t be the last,” he warned at the time.
In 2023, at the same event, Kofe announced that Tuvalu completed a three-dimensional scan of all its 124 islands and islets, installed two submarine cables to upgrade its communications infrastructure, and started exploring a digital identification system to connect the Tuvaluan diaspora.
Since 2022, 25 countries have legally recognised Tuvalu’s ‘digital statehood’, including 18 member states of the Pacific Islands Forum.
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Hazel Camba 
Shameeka Voyiya 
Newsjustnews writers