ENVIRONMENT 9/2019 Spotlight 17Fotos: Sean Gallagher/Guardian/eyevine; mirjanajovic/iStock.com
Evacuation as a last resort
Tuvalu depends heavily on foreign aid,
with most of its GDP made up of dona-
tions from the UN and neighbouring
countries. Education and employment
opportunities on the island are limited,
and most young people whose families
can pay for it leave to study in Fiji, Aus-
tralia or New Zealand. Now some young
Tuvaluans are returning.
Tapua Pasuna, 24, was crowned Miss
Tuvalu last year. The daughter of the
country’s third female MP, Pasuna de-
scribes herself as “floating” since she re-
turned from university studies in New
Zealand. She says she was pulled back to
the island by extensive family obligations
and a feeling of responsibility to do what
she could for the archipelago.
“I left in 2010. When I came back, I
immediately noticed the difference. The
heat is sometimes unbearable now, and
the erosion is also dramatic. Some of my
favourite spots have disappeared,” says
Pasuna, sitting in her tropical garden, the
barely constructed sea wall just metresfrom her home. “But I feel this is a part of
who I am, and I shouldn’t just run away
from it, even though it’s disappearing. To
abandon it at such a time, when it is hurt-
ing. ... I don’t feel I can do that.”
If this sounds like a tidal wave of de-
spair, the mood on the ground is far less
acute. When planes aren’t expected, chil-
dren play on the country’s airstrip, while
young couples do lazy laps on their mo-
torbikes. In the afternoon, people relax in
hammocks for hours and light campfires
on the beaches to cook fish and keep the
mosquitoes away. A sleepy, happy feeling
fills day-to-day life, as locals watch the
waves move ever closer.
“Come what may,” people say again
and again, quoting the prime minister,
“God will save us.”
The largest building in Funafuti, the
capital, is Government House, which con-
tains the offices of the country’s MPs. The
official government policy in Tuvalu is to
stay on the island, “come what may”. Plans
for adapting to climate change include
the continuing — and much delayedabandon [E(bÄndEn]
, verlassen
airstrip [(eEstrIp]
, Landebahn
barely [(beEli]
, gerade
despair [dI(speE]
, Verzweiflung
donation [dEU(neIS&n]
, Spende
floating [(flEUtIN]
, treibend, schwimmend,
in der Schwebe
GDP (gross domestic
product) [)dZi: di: (pi:]
, BIP (Bruttoinlands-
produkt)hammock [(hÄmEk]
, Hängematte
lap [lÄp]
, hier: Runde
MP (Member of Parlia-
ment) [)em (pi:]
, Abgeordnete(r)
sea wall [)si: (wO:l]
, Ufermauer
tidal wave [)taId&l (weIv]
, Flutwelle, Springflut
unbearable [Vn(beErEb&l]
, unerträglichLife goes on: still,
islanders wonder
how long they will
be able to stay