Kuata Taumaheke has her hopes set on a new beginning in Australia.
She’s lived her entire life in the atoll nation of Tuvalu, and grew up on its most remote island, Nanumea — only 4 square kilometres in size.
But rising sea levels now grip her home island.
And surging tides, coming further inland in Tuvalu, have added urgency to her attempts to secure a place migrating to Australia.
“It’s a sad situation because we Tuvaluans contribute less to the cause of climate change but we are the ones suffering,” she said.
After missing out in a recent random ballot for permanent residency via Australia’s new Pacific Engagement Visa, she’s preparing to try her luck with another migration pathway.
The Falepili Union, an agreement letting Tuvaluans escape the impacts of climate change and move to Australia, came into effect last month.
The programme is expected to start in nine months and will allow up to 280 people to migrate each year through a random ballot.
Taumaheke believes it may be her best chance at getting away from the effects of climate change — something she says she experiences every day.
Australian and Tuvaluan officials have been discussing what support migrants will need, including how to help them find jobs and retain cultural practices.
But some experts say it won’t be easy adjusting to a tough housing market and building a sense of community — problems they say can be solved by reaching into their own traditions.
For Taumaheke, Australia also promises something other than an escape from rising seas.
She’s hoping for a better education for her five children.
“My eldest daughter who wants to be a doctor [cannot access] resources such as science labs,” she said.
But she expects there will be challenges.
Taukiei Kitara, a Griffith University academic, knows the difficulties of adjusting to life in Australia after migrating from Tuvalu in 2011.
Born on the Tuvaluan island of Nui, he moved after meeting his Australian wife, Carol Farbotko.
And while he loves his life in Australia, it wasn’t simple at the start.
“You come from a very small village in Tuvalu and then you’re in a city,” Kitara said.
“You’re looking for a job, looking for a place to stay … you need to set up your banking, you have to have your tax file number and all those sorts of things. That’s what I went through.
“If it wasn’t for [Carol], I would have been really struggling to navigate life and what I needed to do to get a job or to get a driver’s licence or to apply for Medicare.”
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Kitara said there is excitement in Tuvalu about migrating to Australia.
But he has warned his friends in the Pacific Island nation to prepare for the challenges that await — including the housing market.
“When the Falepili Union treaty was announced and signed in the Cook Islands last year, many people came and asked me about what life is like in Australia,” he said.
“I was honest, and I said, ‘life is great in Australia, but also it’s very tough’.
“One of the things that will probably shock a lot of Tuvaluans coming here is the idea that they have to rent houses here.
“We do not think about things like your rental history, your credit rating, all those sorts of things that can come into play when you rent properties.”
Facing the threat of rising sea levels, Tuvalu began talks on the Falepili Union with Australia in 2023.
And despite debate over the merits of the deal in the lead-up to Tuvalu’s election, its new government vowed to follow through with the agreement after winning power earlier this year.
Dr Farbotko, a Griffith University researcher, said the words “fale pili” hold special significance in Tuvaluan culture, meaning to look after one’s neighbour as though they were family.
She’s confident that with the right tools available, migrants will be able to support each other and adapt to their new lives.
“It is going to be extremely important that the existing Tuvaluan population in Australia will be ready and able to help the new arrivals,” she said.
“The first thing that a Tuvaluan family will do when they arrive is go and stay with a relative, distant or close … or get in touch with the Tuvaluan church, and look to them for that initial kind of support.”
But she says Tuvaluan families can’t provide all the support needed.
“If there’s lots of people arriving and there’s only, say, 20 or 30 families in Brisbane, that would quickly become overwhelming.”
Tukini Tavui, president of the Pacific Islands Council of South Australia, is confident that Tuvaluans will do well at networking in Australia.
“I think the way forward is to connect with the existing Pacific diaspora,” he said.
Kitara said Tuvalu’s own cultural traditions provide at least part of the solution for community leaders hoping to smooth the transition.
One of them is the “falekaupule” — culturally significant meeting places in Tuvalu.
Kitara believes one of the ways the move can be eased is through re-envisioning the falekaupule in Australia.
“The falekaupule can be a place where people worship, where people do their meetings, where people come and make decisions,” he said.
“It’s a place where young people are taught, their knowledge is passed down from elders to the young generation. I see the falekaupule as a place where leaders are born.
“It can also be a place where people are housed. They can stay there for a couple of weeks, maybe months while they’re looking for a house.”
The UN has described Tuvalu — which has a population of about 11,000 — as being “on the extreme front lines of the global climate emergency”.
Children swim around debris in a flooded backyard during a king tide on Funafuti, Tuvalu.
Climate change experts say sea level rises could affect low-lying island nations like Tuvalu by worsening king tides inundating their atolls, eroding and redepositing land, and reducing access to fresh water.
A new report from the World Meteorological Organisation last month painted in stark terms the pressures motivating many Tuvaluans to leave their home country.
It revealed that Pacific sea levels are rising faster than the global average.
And United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres, speaking at the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga last month, warned of climate catastrophe if global emissions were not reduced.
“Surging seas are coming for us all,” he said.
Back on the tiny island of Nanumea, Taumaheke still holds out hope for the survival of her country.
“I do believe there is still a future for Tuvalu if developed countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions,” she said.
