Tuvalu: Barely above water
A 2024 marine heatwave has destroyed 99.9% of the coral reefs surrounding the Pacific nation of Tuvalu, threatening the archipelago's habitability. Scientists warn that rising sea levels and ecosystem collapse could make the islands unliveable by the end of the century.
Why it matters
This serves as a stark, localized example of the existential threat climate change poses to low-lying island nations.
When leaders visit the coral atolls that form the Pacific nation of Tuvalu on October 5, they will find a once-vibrant ecosystem wiped out due to climate change. The pre-COP gathering, hosted by Fiji ahead of the annual UN climate conference in Turkey, has been billed as the Pacific’s chance to show the world first-hand the damage wrought by climate change in the vast ocean region.
Leaders are also set to spend a day on low-lying Tuvalu, an atoll over 800 km north of Fiji. Here, scientists say, a marine heatwave in 2024 wiped out an estimated 99.9% of the coral that built the Tuvalu islands.
“The very system that created the islands has died. It wasn’t pollution. It wasn’t overfishing. Just a direct result from climate change,” marine biologist Austin Bowden-Kerby, who visited last year and documented the devastation, said.
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