Tuvalu’s Governor-General, Reverend Sir Tofiga Vaevalu Falani, has called for urgent global action on climate mobility, telling an international gathering in Berlin that Tuvalu is confronting an unprecedented challenge as climate change threatens its future.
Addressing the Berlin Climate Mobility Forum, a high-level gathering of world leaders, policymakers, experts and communities affected by climate change, Sir Falani urged the international community to recognise the unique challenges facing Tuvalu.
In his address to delegates from around the world, the Governor-General said Tuvalu’s situation goes beyond a national crisis.
“Tuvalu speaks today not merely as a nation facing a crisis, but as a people facing an existential question that no nation in human history has ever had to answer: what happens when the land beneath your feet becomes constantly flooded?,” Falani asked.
During his keynote address, Sir Falani outlined four priorities for Tuvalu: protecting the right of people to remain in their homeland, ensuring safe and dignified mobility pathways, safeguarding Tuvalu’s sovereignty and statehood, and preserving the nation’s culture and heritage.
The Governor-General also reaffirmed Tuvalu’s position that rising sea levels must not undermine the country’s sovereignty, identity or rights under international law.
“Tuvalu sovereignty is permanent. Our people will preserve their rights, identity and legal standing in the international order regardless of the climate crisis,” he said.
Sir Falani stressed that although Tuvalu did not create the climate crisis, the country continues to face some of its most severe consequences.
“The sea is rising. The world must rise with us,” said Falani.
The Berlin Climate Mobility Forum serves as a platform for advancing global cooperation on climate mobility and for launching a Global Consensus on Climate Mobility, aimed at promoting human dignity, rights and resilience in the face of climate change.
