Scientists predict the small Pacific nation of Tuvalu will eventually be submerged by rising seas. As a result, more than one-third of its citizens have applied for a landmark climate visa to migrate to Australia, according to officials.
Tuvalu is one of the countries at greatest risk from climate change, which scientists say is boosting sea levels. It has a population of 11,000 on its nine atolls scattered across the Pacific between Australia and Hawaiʻi.
Reuters reports that since applications for Australia's visa lottery opened last month, more than 1,100 people have registered, with family members bringing the total seeking the visa to more than 4,000 under the bilateral climate and security treaty.
Applications close on July 18, with an annual cap of 280 visas designed to ensure migration to Australia does not cause a brain drain from Tuvalu.
The visa will allow Tuvaluans to live, work and study in Australia, accessing health benefits and education on the same basis as Australian citizens.
By 2050, NASA scientists project daily tides will submerge half the main atoll of Funafuti. It is home to 60% of Tuvalu's residents, where villagers cling to a strip of land as narrow as 65 feet. That forecast assumes a 1-meter rise in sea levels, while the worst case, double that, would put 90% of Funafuti under water.
Tuvalu, whose mean elevation is just 6 feet, 7 inches, has experienced a sea-level rise of 6 inches over the past three decades, one and a half times the global average. It has built 17 acres of artificial land, and is planning more, which it hopes will stay above the tides until 2100.
