Donna Mae Alaga 
The climate is changing, when will we?
As international efforts to calibrate the irreversible effects of climate had dither and tither, small island nations are at much more risks of the shifting global climate. “We are not just talking in Tuvalu, we are mobilizing collective actions at home, in our region, and on the international stage to secure our future.” This have been the silver lining quote from the speech delivered by Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Simon Kofe last November 2021 during the United Nations climate conference at Glasgow. Recently, this miniscule nation composed of 9 islands between Australia and Hawaii, vehemently announced to be the first digital nation due to the rising of ocean surface levels.
Instead of anticipating the cacophony of a first digital replica of a nation, at-risk nations should focus on devising durable solutions that are present-oriented and multidimensional rather than being engulfed by transient solutions provided by digital revolution.
Rethink climate policies
In Tuvalu, climate change is no longer scientific and environmental crises alone, but a political one which ought to prompt changes in climate policies. For instance, Loss and damage (L&D) records not being included in the development of adaptation projects was pinpointed to be the suspect of failed adaptive initiatives in Tuvalu. In the interpretive policy analysis made by Calliari, E. & Vanhala, L., L&D as a key aspect of climate policy should be scrutinized at the national level. Hence, viewing this climate challenge faced in Tuvalu through political lenses would generate comprehensive outlook in the defects of past policies and improved effectiveness of the existing ones.
Urge collaborative climate action
Moreover, the plight of Tuvalu should also be viewed in socio-economic standpoint. Apart from threat on loss of livelihood, climate security, and diminished availability of safe water, Tuvaluans are also confronted of losing rights on their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) as their nation may sunk with it. Multi-scalar solutions that involves both high officials and vulnerable sectors in Tuvalu should be initiated immediately alongside garnering climate accountability especially from great nation polluters such as US, China, and India, as well as fellow lesser polluters who perpetrate polluting actions (Salem, S., 2020). Hence, socio-economic decision is not up to this small nation alone but also in coordination with contributors of carbon emissions that elevates the severity of climate change impacts in Tuvalu and other lesser polluters.
Demand indemnification
As long as great polluters are not compensating for the damage they indirectly caused to small nations like Tuvalu, legal actions must take into place. Phasing down instead of phasing out carbon emissions is ludicrously accelerating the impending disappearance of Tuvalu. Moreover, voluntary aid instead of “compensation for climate-related loss and damage” are enough reasons to recourse legal dialogue to urge these great polluters to pay due price (Faiola, A., 2021). This may accumulate less support from developed countries but advisory from international tribunal could stimulate negotiations and climate action reparations deserved by at-risk nations like Tuvalu.
Although it seems an all-or-nothing resort, digitalization of Tuvalu replica may be the only hope left in preserving its culture, identity, and image of home, but not it’s people. Mass relocation due to climate-induced migration, which may also cause further human rights issue on displaced individuals, is blatantly counterproductive and can only help them temporarily.
Romanticizing resiliency by building a digital nation may grab the attention of international community on climate action. However, it would only make Tuvalu look like a loser as lesser polluters while the other great polluter nations are not compelled in exerting accountability which have long been inflicting the environmental justice all nations need in the midst of the changing climate.
Donna Mae Alaga | SciTech Writer
Chuck Cabarliza | Layout Artist
