The Australian Uniting Church support for Tuvalu is being provided through partnership with Christian Church of Tuvalu and in close contact with church leaders in Tuvalu. The population of Tuvalu is 11,500. The Church of Tuvalu is by far the largest church, 97% of the population. Besides the small Catholic Church, less than 0.5%, there are two other small churches, Pentecostal and Seventh-day Adventist.
Christian Church of Tuvalu leaders report that the southern island of Nukulaelae is most severely affected by the extreme water shortage and locally produced food. The Church Secretary has reported that “the coconut tree tops have started falling off, breadfruit trees are dead, banana plantations are dried up and the traditional pulaka pits are rotten because of the drought.”
A big meeting on climate change that has just finished in Panama was urged to consider the plight of Pacific nations.
Presentations from Tonga highlighted the impact of climate change in the Pacific – including the current water shortages in Tuvalu and Tokelau.
However, according to John Hunter from Australia’s Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre in Hobart, Sea level rise is not a major factor in the water shortages in Tuvalu and Tokelau at the moment.
The current drought affecting the central pacific is due to a La Nina weather pattern, but sea level rise as been suggested by some as being a factor in the water shortage in low lying atoll nations.
Source
- The Drum
- Pacific Beat
- Pacific Beat
- Image: Journey
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News category: Asia Pacific.
