TUVALU

The 9 coral atolls that comprise the Tuvalu chain have palmy, white sand beaches, turquoise waters and abundant sea life. It looks exactly as one would imagine a South Pacific paradise. But the environmental threat to Tuvalu’s future is something that the country has been forced to recognise. Rising sea levels and extreme weather floods the nation on a regular basis. Homes are devastated and crops are ruined at exhausting rates. There is frequent talk that Tuvaluans will become the world’s first complete nation of climate-change refugees.

According to its inhabitants, the unusually high tides or ‘King Tides’ were once rare for the islands. Since the 1990’s they occur every year. As I witnessed one of these king tides, the feeling I had was fear mixed with the fascination of watching it happen. Salt water bubbled up through the porous coral island bottom, flooding large parts of the island. One can imagine that the idea of Tuvalu being wiped off the map must be like a constant Sword of Damocles for the inhabitants of Tuvalu.

But in spite of the evidence, many people in Tuvalu don’t believe they will be forced to leave, and point to The Bible for proof. In the deeply Christian country, great faith is placed in the words of Genesis, which says that rainbows - an almost daily occurrence - are proof God is keeping his covenant made with Noah to never again flood the earth.