Faced with rising waters, Australia offers asylum to inhabitants of the Tuvalu archipelago

This small Pacific archipelago, with its 11,000 inhabitants, is one of the nations most threatened by climate change and rising sea levels. Two of its nine atolls have already been largely submerged and specialist projections estimate that this archipelago will be completely uninhabitable within 80 years.

The treaty provides rights “specials” for arrivals, but also sections devoted to defense, committing Australia to come to the aid of Tuvalu in the event of invasion or natural disaster.