The fate of Tuvalu, Kiribati and other Oceanian countries is geography at its cruellest. One by one, they will seize to exist as global warming proceeds. Kiribati has already issued an official request for citizens to relocate. Affluent Tuvaluans can leave for New Zealand. The poor will stay and wait for the Arc.

The excess water comes from the Arctic, for example Thule, where the Inuit won’t soon be able to hunt for seals as the ice caps melt away from under their feet. Their age-old livelihood is at stake. Subsistence is no longer an option, and the ones to blame are nowhere to be seen. There’s no closing the gap between big industrial countries and peripheral communities.

Decisions on the most crucial issues for these small and distant places are made on arenas that don’t allow citizens’ voices to be heard. The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference set a goal in 2009 to keep the average increase in global temperature below two degrees for the next 40 years. Tuvalu protested, since even within that margin, the country will soon be no more. It was no use. And the water level keeps rising.

Text: Anton Vanha-Majamaa / Translation: Tapio Reinekoski

Languages: Inuit, Tuvaluan, English
Subtitles: English