A small island nation in the Pacific with only about 11,000 people, Tuvalu is nevertheless on the "frontline" of the climate crisis, suffering severe consequences from rising sea levels.
In the past 30 years alone, sea levels in Tuvalu have risen by 21cm, nearly double the global average. Saltwater has flowed into homes and flooded roads. Groundwater has been contaminated, while many key crops can no longer grow.
More worryingly, scientists say that at the current rapid pace of sea-level rise, by 2050, half of Tuvalu’s capital, Funafuti, will be flooded. Much of the island nation could be submerged by the end of the 21st century.
For many regions around the world, sea-level rise has long been a permanent threat.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly warned of the serious consequences as coastal communities face the risk of being submerged, freshwater sources contaminated, crops and infrastructure destroyed, biodiversity diminished and economies devastated.
Key economic sectors such as fisheries, agriculture and tourism are under growing pressure.
According to the United Nations, global sea levels rose by 4.7mm per year between 2014 and 2023 and surged to a record 5.9mm in 2024.
Under a high-end scenario, global sea levels could rise by more than 1m by the end of the century, threatening the lives of communities in coastal areas and on islands.
From Pacific island nations to Asia, the Caribbean and Central America, many once-crowded coastal cities and villages are gradually becoming deserted as people are forced to leave their homeland when their homes are no longer safe places to live. The United Nations estimates that up to 1.2 billion people worldwide could be displaced by 2050 due to sea-level rise and related climate impacts.
In fact, in 2025, more than 90% of Tuvalu’s population applied for visas to migrate to Australia.
The Tuvalu Government has even created a "digital nation" in the virtual world to preserve national sovereignty and cultural identity if its physical territory disappears.
Many people in other island nations such as Kiribati, Vanuatu and the Marshall Islands have also been forced to relocate as rising seas and other climate impacts threaten their homes and livelihoods.
However, experts are concerned that the wave of migration is not merely a change in where people live and work, but may also bring negative consequences for the preservation of cultural values and heritage of Pacific island nations.
Sea-level rise is driven mainly by the thermal expansion of warming ocean water and the melting of glaciers and ice sheets.
The World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) said glaciers worldwide are melting at an unprecedented rate. Since 1975, glaciers, excluding the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, have lost more than 9,000 billion tonnes of ice.
Experts emphasise that melting ice causes sea levels to rise by about 1mm per year, while also creating many risks of serious natural disasters such as floods, landslides and rockfalls.
Notably, support from major countries remains insufficient to help communities directly affected by sea-level rise cope with climate-related disasters.
At the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting, regional leaders are pushing for the Pacific Resilience Facility to be put into operation, thereby helping vulnerable communities more easily access the resources needed to respond to the impacts of climate change, especially urgent issues such as sea-level rise.
