Page 16 - IB July 2018

Cover Story

Tuvalu debates the legal question of area of sovereignty post-sea level rise.

State of exile by international fish-
ing vessels.
Current laws gov-
Tuvalu seeks declaration on erning the Exclusive
Economic Zone and
the borders of mari-
resource ownership time nations refer to
specific physical ref-
erence points from
Magistrate Simon Kofe
which to determine the
and disappear. area of sovereignty.
A modern-day Atlantis under siege Those physical points are generally
from coastal erosion and salt water in- islands or atolls which can sustain life.
trusion. Sustainability of life on remote islets
What happens if Tuvalu’s nine atolls and atolls is becoming increasingly dif-
descend into the blue Pacific, swamped by ficult on Tuvalu, Kiribati and other Pacific
By Netani Rika rising waves or washed away by deadly countries.
storms? Once uninhabitable or invis- If life is no longer sustainable on an
AS the sun sets over Tuvalu, children ible, who will own the 900,000 square atoll, does that mean it cannot be a refer-
shriek in the lagoon of the main atoll - kilometres of ocean between Hawaii and ence point for a national border?
Funafuti. Australia? That’s a question Tuvalu’s Senior Mag-
This is the way life has been in the The United Nations estimates Tuvalu’s istrate, Simon Kofe, has grappled with as
Pacific for as long as people can remember. tuna to be worth an annual USD41million the sea continues to rise around Funafuti
But sea levels in the lagoon are ris- – that’s about 36,000 tonnes of Skipjack, and salt water seeps up through the wa-
ing and the waves have started to gnaw Yellowfin and Bigeye Tuna. ter table, destroying vital root crops and
away at the coast – slowly, surely – in Tuvalu operates a single vessel in con- drinking sources.
an inevitable march which may see the junction with a South Korean company “It’s important that we enact laws which
world’s and fourth smallest nation sink with most of the stocks being harvested protect our sovereignty and ensure the

16 Islands Business, July 2018