Tuvalu’s Minister for Justice, Communications and Foreign Affairs has laid out a vision for Tuvalu in the event the country is “fully submerged or people are forced to relocate”.
“Following the outcomes from COP26 [the global climate change conference], I think the trajectory that we’re on at this time is we’re heading for a worst-case scenario. So it’s important that we have a plan,” Simon Kofe said during a public lecture at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in Suva this month.
“The leadership mindset behind this project is one where we help ourselves as much as we try to advocate for bigger countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. We must not invest all our energy and efforts into that,” he said.
‘Future Now’ is organised under four major initiatives: Tuvaluan values, statehood, digital nationhood and climate advocacy.
Bringing Tuvaluan values to the world
As with most Pacific Island nations, Tuvalu is a community-based society, Kofe said. The incorporation of Tuvaluan values (and by extension, Pacific values) in ‘Future Now’, seeks to build on this strength, and “elevate what we already have”. Kofe believes the world needs these “time-tested” values—and leaders need to broaden their perceptions of collective responsibility.
“Many of our values and philosophy as to how we build our systems in our communities is founded on …respect, cooperation, consensus building, responsibility, self-help, collective well being, collective ownership, family discipline.”
These values are articulated in Tuvalu’s constitution, and were adopted by the nation’s forefathers, Kofe said. “One may ask what is the relevance of these values to climate change? Or what are the relevance of these values to the international forum? I would say that the world has become a community, a single community. We’re so interconnected.”
Citing the impact of COVID-19, climate change, and the war in Ukraine, Kofe continued, “I think we’ve reached a stage in the evolution of globalisation, that we are so interconnected that it is impossible for a single nation to chart a course without taking into consideration the global context. And so, this is where I feel these values become relevant and applicable to the international context.”
However he said nations are still driving national interests, “pursuing short term economic gain at the expense of everyone else”.
Kofe said Tuvalu hopes to influence countries to understand this broader context and shared responsibilities.
“We need to rise up above politics, rise above all this immediate national interest that we have, and to look at the bigger picture. And the bigger picture is you and me, it’s our people, it’s our future generations, it’s our grandchildren, being able to live in a safe environment.”
Towards a new understanding of ‘Statehood’
Tuvalu is also looking at how it can secure its statehood, even if its land territory no longer exists.
“Obviously, this is a whole new area under international law, because we’ve never had an experience in the past where a country disappears from the face of the planet. And so we feel that it’s important that we prepare now, we look at legal avenues that we can contribute to the formation of new international norms, customary international law that could accommodate and cater for countries that would basically be gone in the next 50 or 100 years,” Kofe said.
As one example, any country that wants to establish ties with Tuvalu must “recognise the proposition that Tuvalu statehood is permanent, and that our maritime boundaries [are] also set regardless of the impacts of climate change.”
Venezuela and St Kitts and Nevis have signed joint communiques with Tuvalu recognising the permanency of statehood, and Kofe said they are looking to sign a further 10 joint communiques at the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Rwanda.
Tuvalu is also looking at the legal implications of sea level rise and climate change. The present legal definition of a state is that it must have a permanent population, a defined physical territory, a government and a capacity to enter into relations with other states.
However Kofe argued that state practice says otherwise, citing the examples of governments in exile during times of war, and more controversially, the status of Taiwan, which has diplomatic relations with Tuvalu. He says the challenge for Tuvalu is what happens if it loses its territory to sea level rise and its people are forced to relocate.
“Can we still exist as a state under international law? Could we still have our rights to our maritime zones, to our country’s top level domain name, which provides finances to the government?”
The connected issue of the status of Tuvalu’s maritime boundaries is vitally important. Pacific Islands Forum leaders have recognised that once states have lodged the boundaries for their baselines, they are then considered permanent.
Tuvalu is grappling with the possibility that its low watermark will shift inland with sea level rise.
“The legal issue here is because under UNCLOS (UN Convention on the Law of the Sea), the baseline is defined as the low watermark. The baseline is where you draw all your maritime zones from, your territorial waters of 12 nautical miles, your EEZ of 200 nautical miles, it’s all drawn from your baseline,” Kofe stated.
He said two approaches are possible, the ‘softer’ one being to “reinterpret existing rules and state practice in favour of retaining statehood and maritime zones”.
The second would be to initiate changes to the international law framework to accommodate states that are vulnerable to climate change. However Kofe said changing international law at that level would be a challenge, which is why Tuvalu is taking the bilateral route.
“So the more countries that come on board, then the more we are contributing to the establishment of new international norms. It may seem breaking rank to some, breaking away from the norm, but I think history has told us that once you break away, it is just a matter of time when other countries follow,” he said of this strategy.
Tuvalu is also reviewing its Constitution, with a view to aligning national laws with the “legal propositions” it is pushing internationally, and Kofe suggested this is something all Pacific Island countries should be looking to do.
Building Tuvalu in cyberspace
The third pillar of ‘Future Now’ deals with Tuvalu’s digital ambitions.
Kofe said if Tuvaluans are forced to relocate from their country due to climate change, “You need to have systems in place to ensure that they continue to function as a community, as the government, wherever they move to. It’s important that these things are in place to ensure that migration is with dignity. It protects the interests of those that are forced to migrate.”
He continued: “We want to be able to operate and function as a government from wherever we are. And so, this involves digitising our government services. It also includes digitising cultural knowledge. So that you can have the… same experience remotely as you would in a place like Tuvalu and I think technology has arrived at a place where we can do that.”
While this work is linked to the response to climate change, the benefits are immediate, as the public gets more efficient service, the Minister said.
Tuvalu is also looking to leverage its .tv country top level domain name as part of this initiative. The domain name, which is used for many entertainment and online streaming services, is an important revenue source for the country.
Tuvalu recently signed GoDaddy Registry as the new registry service provider for Tuvalu’s .tv Country Code Top-Level Domain. Under its previous agreement with Verisign, Tuvalu received US$5 million annually for use of the domain, but Tuvalu’s government has said it wants to gain more advantage from the name. More than 458,000 websites use the .tv domain name, including Amazon’s video streaming service, Twitch.
“It’s an asset that we have because we are a state. If Tuvalu was not a state, we would not …be entitled to top level domain name and so this is why this is all interconnected. So we want to push for statehood because there are benefits that come with it, and it secures the future of every Tuvaluan,” Kofe said.
Climate advocacy
Tuvalu and Kofe himself have already proved their credentials as climate advocates (he has been nominated for the 20022 Nobel Peace Prize for his virtual advocacy at COP26), but Kofe said it is important the region takes a more strategic approach to advocacy.
“It cannot be only at these meetings [e.g. COPs] where these things are done,” he said.
“Our experience from previous COP meetings is we come with high expectations, but we leave disappointed, we continue to fall short of the expectations that we have. So I think it is time to change our strategy.
“We need to not only target leaders and those important meetings, but we need to look at a more holistic approach [that] would be targeting the general public because it is the general population that puts leaders in those positions, and the public that puts leaders under pressure to come up with stronger climate action and policies to address the issue of climate change.”
Kofe said part of this strategy is nominate people from our region to important roles in the international climate infrastructure. As one example, Tuvalu’s long-term climate negotiator and expert, Dr Ian Fry was recently appointed to the newly established position of UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change.
Tuvalu has also announced that it is nominating former Governor General, Sir Iakoba Taeia Italeli for the role of Commonwealth Secretary-General, and has urged Pacific Island members of the Commonwealth to support his candidacy.
