Tuvalu is the second smallest island nation in the world, with a land area of 26 square kilometers, located between Hawaii and Australia, and consisting of three reefs and six coral atolls.
Tuvalu has been classified by the United Nations as “highly vulnerable to rising global temperatures” due to its extremely low topography, and according to the Chatham House Institute, the country could be completely submerged by 2100.
At the recent 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Tuvalu’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Simon Kofe announced on the virtual island of Teafualiku that Tuvalu plans to become the first country to replicate itself in the metaverse.
Teafualiku Island is the smallest island in Tuvalu and the first part of the country expected to disappear due to sea level rise.
So the first step in the Tuvalu Digitization Project was to rebuild Teafualiku Island in hopes of providing solace to the people of Tuvalu.
In his speech, Cove implored other countries to take serious action on climate change to help Tuvalu avoid the worst-case scenario.
Only a global effort can ensure that Tuvalu does not disappear from the real world and become the only digital nation in the world that can only exist permanently in the metaverse.