Sinking Paradise gets a digital twin
The island state of Tuvalu is gradually being swallowed up by the Pacific. Now the foreign minister presented an extraordinary plan to preserve the country’s heritage in the future.
Imagine being able to watch your homeland being swallowed up piece by piece by the ocean. No sudden flooding like last year in the Ahr valley, but the result is the same: people are losing their homes. And the reason is the same: The climate change.
The metaverse is intended to protect against forgetting
The island nation Tuvalu lies just 5 meters above sea level in the Pacific Ocean, north of Australia and New Zealand. The people who live there have been able to observe this for a long time Land smaller and the ocean larger becomes. Last year, Tuvaluan Foreign Minister Simon Kofe delivered his address at the UN Climate Change Conference in a suit, tie and trousers rolled up in the part of Tuvalu that is already under water. Although the image spoke for itself, Kofe made it clear that climate change is real and requires active global action. Because his country will feel the consequences directly: According to estimates, Tuvalu will gone in 100 years be (Source: SBS News).
In mid-November, the Foreign Minister spoke again at this year’s climate conference and revealed plans for Tuvalu’s future. This will take place on a digital level, because Tuvalu should as the first digital state into the Metaverse be taken over. The Metaverse is a virtual reality in which people can interact digitally as avatars, be it for various events, for work, study or simply to pass the time. This time, Kofe is standing on a digital Tuvalu for his speech and justifies the Metaverse decision as follows: “Our land, our ocean, our culture are the most valuable goods of our people. To protect them from harm, we will move them to the cloud no matter what happens in the physical world.”
Watch the Foreign Minister’s full speech in the following video:
What is happening to the people of Tuvalu?
Land and ocean, culture and knowledge – all of this can be programmed in the Metaverse. But what about the people who (still) live in Tuvalu? Former Attorney General Dr. Eselealofa Apinelu said opposite The Guardiansthat Australia and New Zealand provide opportunities for immigration, but the bureaucracy complicates the processes: “Australia and New Zealand have been our closest partners, they have given us education and job opportunities… but immigration laws are not simple, they are not easy. We need laws that are friendlier to smaller islands.”
Almost 12,000 people live in Tuvalu. It is Apinelu’s wish to enable them to emigrate now so that they can adapt step by step a new life in a new country can get used to.
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