Tuvalu’s Foreign Minister Gave His COP26 Speech Knee-Deep In Ocean Water

The Foreign Minister of Tuvalu, Simon Kofe, has delivered a powerful speech to the attendees of the United Nations COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow, while standing knee-deep in the ocean.

For those unfamiliar, Tuvalu is a tiny island nation in the Pacific, which sits at 4.6 metres above sea level at its highest point. Naturally, this means Tuvalu is particularly vulnerable to climate change and rising sea levels.

However, many politicians — including our own — have a pretty godawful habit of ignoring the threat of rising sea levels because it doesn’t immediately impact us, which is why Kofe took a more literal approach to the issue at COP26.

In a recorded speech shown at the conference, the foreign minister stands behind a lectern in a suit and tie, dressed accordingly for the formal occasion. However, that lectern is positioned knee-deep in the ocean, in an effort to illustrate the issue facing Tuvalu right now.

“The statement juxtaposes the COP26 setting with the real-life situations faced in Tuvalu due to the impacts of climate change and sea level rise and highlights the bold action Tuvalu is taking to address the very pressing issues of human mobility under climate change,” Kofe said in his video message.

Previously, Tuvalu has called out Australia’s climate change denial, with the former Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga left feeling “insulted and deeply angry” after Scott Morrison and then-deputy Michael McCormack were “dissmissive” of climate change at the 2019 Pacific Islands Forum.

“I thought, perhaps too ambitiously, that hosting the 50th PIF in Tuvalu, my country, which is perhaps the most threatened atoll nation due to impacts of climate change, would secure genuine sympathy and loyal understanding on our Tuvalu plea calling for urgent and complete response to climate change,” Sopoaga said in 2019.

“Sadly, making money took precedence over saving lives in [small island developing states].”

Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, 30 percent of Pacific small island states and territories — AKA the people copping the worst of climate change right now — were unable to attend the climate summit in Glasgow, which led to fears that their concerns would not be heard.

The symbolic address comes just a month after a World Bank report asserted that the Marshall Islands, which are located half way between Australia and Hawaii, could lose its status as a nation if sea levels rise at the predicted rate.

As per the report, just a one metre sea level rise could render 40 percent of the buildings in the nation’s capital permanently flooded and effectively useless.

The clip from Tuvalu will be shown at the COP26 summit on Tuesday.