Beneficial or harmful?
However, coping with waste from large appliances, computers, and vehicles is still an environmental hot potato. The Royal New Zealand Navy College in August this year made a conditional offer to Tuvalu. If the college could use Tuvalu as a base for maneuvers, they would assist the nation to clean up the towering mountains of garbage that are already spreading into the streets, and provide equipment to compact metal waste. While this scheme may provide a palliative, it doesn't solve the fundamental problem.
Wu cites an example: Taiwan and South Korea donated a large number of computers to Tuvalu, and South Korea provided a number of motorbikes to Tuvalu's Ministry of Fisheries. These actions were perhaps intended to improve the efficiency of the government, but the products became rusty in under two years and have had to be scrapped. She suggests: "Foreigners perhaps should think carefully about how to manage follow-up problems before they donate any goods, and even think twice about donating that sort of material to avoid causing further problems."
Tien Chung-kwang, Taiwan's ambassador to Tuvalu, notes that in recent years Australia and New Zealand have changed the way aid is delivered to Pacific island nations; they now focus on efforts to train people and cultivate their understanding. In the last two years, Taiwan has moved away from "money diplomacy" and has implemented a "sustainable development" policy as their guiding principle in Tuvalu. Thus, as well as continuing to assist in training fishermen and providing scholarships for students to study in Taiwan, it will more actively provide help in areas that Taiwan is good at, such as agriculture, composting and alternative energy generation. "The issue of environmental protection and sustainable resources should be considered as the first priority for the development of Pacific island nations."
Research into foraminifera
Let's go back to the most concerning issue of the slowly disappearing Pacific islands. While research teams have been collecting data and debating the issue of sea-level rise in the Pacific Ocean, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has taken a different tack. The agency is studying the degree to which Funafuti's coastline ecology is being damaged by human activity, and is seeking specific remedies.
Fumiko Matsudate, coordinator of JICA's Tuvalu operation, explains that they have completed a full study on the Funafuti coastline, and discovered that pollution due to human activities has caused a sharp decrease in numbers of foraminifera (hole bearers), which are very tiny shelled creatures whose shells make up 80% of the material of Funafuti's beaches. As a result, the coastline is continually subsiding, reducing the effectiveness of this natural barrier. The JICA program uses biotechnology to revive foraminifera and so restore the beaches.
In the next four years, they will conduct the process in three gradual stages: production, transportation and accretion. The program is regarded as a trailblazer for other Pacific islands.
Matsudate, who has been in Tuvalu for over a year, says, "Tuvalu's environment and society have changed dramatically, so people's environmental awareness and the government's environmental management capabilities must improve quickly in order to avoid the double yoke of becoming both victims and perpetrators of environmental disaster."
A festival wish
Funafuti was bustling from February 26 to March 1 this year as the first Tuvalu King Tide Festival got under way, organized by Tuvalu's Ministry of Transportation and Tourism and a number of foreign aid organizations. The festival aims to improve people's awareness of the impact of climate change and to arouse their interest in Tuvalu's cultural heritage. These thoughts, inspired perhaps by long-term discussions between the Tuvalu government and foreign aid organizations, provide the opportunity for joint reflection on critical environmental issues.
During the festival, teachers and students from the other eight islands were invited to participate. Kids were divided into groups and participated in the environmental program conducted by the Ministry of Environment and representatives from other countries. Activities were steeped in environmental concepts: the highlight of the opening ceremony was a cycling race, symbolic of a low-carbon lifestyle, and with the twist that the slowest won the race; a canoe race, which retrained and reinvigorated people's rowing skills, as people have become too used to motor boats; a race to climb a coconut palm, to remind people to cherish what they possess and to reduce consumption of imported canned soft drinks, and so on.
On the third day of the festival, the tsunami alarm mentioned at the beginning of this article sounded. This gave foreign journalists a shocking lesson in reality: "You can see for yourselves. We really have no place to run!" says the organizer.
However, the festival ended happily. The open minds of this land have injected new energy into the battle for Tuvalu. They are facing a future filled with enormous opportunities, but also great challenges.