This archive report was first published on 9 November 2021.
On November 9, 2021, Tuvalu's foreign minister, Simon Kofe, made a powerful plea for climate action in a video address to the UN climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.
Standing thigh-deep in seawater, Kofe emphasized the deadly and existential risks that climate change and sea-level rise pose to Tuvalu and low-lying atoll nations.
“Climate change and sea-level rise are deadly and existential risks for Tuvalu and low-lying atoll nations,” he said.
He added, “We are sinking, but so is everyone else. And no matter if we feel the effects today, like Tuvalu, or in a hundred years we will all still feel the dire effects of this global crisis.”
Delegates at the COP26 summit are gathered to try and implement the goals of the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global heating to “well below” two degrees Celsius and to a safer 1.5C cap if possible.
However, based on the latest national emissions cutting plans, Earth is set to warm by 2.7C this century, according to the UN.
With his nation of 12,000 people preparing for the worst-case scenario, where their lands disappear and they must leave, Kofe urged the world to take bold, alternative action today to secure tomorrow.
