Besieged Pacific nation warns COP31 can't be climate talkfest as Anthony Albanese accused of disrespect

A Tuvalu government adviser said it felt like Australia had “taken over” the country’s sovereignty during a visit by leaders to the Pacific atoll.

The official — a senior government adviser who asked to remain anonymous — said they were disappointed in Australia’s handling of the visit.

The comments came during a visit by colourfully clad Anthony Albanese and other world leaders to Tuvalu, which has become a symbol of the existential threat posed by rising seas and a key partner in Canberra’s Pacific strategy.

“Just because we signed the treaty doesn’t mean they can take over our country and our sovereignty,” the aide told AFP.

“That’s how it feels like.”

Australia and Tuvalu signed the groundbreaking Falepili Union in 2023, part of Canberra’s efforts to blunt China’s expanding reach in the region. Under that pact, Australia opened a new visa category specially set aside for adult citizens of Tuvalu.

The official also accused Mr Albanese of disrespect in not wearing a traditional “fau” headpiece during a welcome ceremony on the sidelines of the Pacific “pre-COP” gathering hosted by Fiji aimed at drawing the world’s attention to life on the frontline of global warming.

“Why didn’t he wear the fau? That is so disrespectful to our culture,” they said.

“Every other person wore the fau.”

The South Pacific is among the regions of the world most vulnerable to global warming — from rising seas jeopardising homes to increasing temperatures causing coral bleaching.

Tuvalu is deeply affected, already laying plans to relocate its population of 10,600 if the country is consumed by the ocean.

Tuvalu Climate Change Minister Maina Talia issued a warning to a delegation of world leaders visiting the small island nation that the the world’s biggest climate event should not become “another talk shop”.

The event was designed to show leaders the impacts of climate change firsthand in one of the world’s lowest-lying nations, where land sits an average of 2m above sea level.

The tour was scheduled a month before the United Nations’ Conference of the Parties climate talks in Turkey, where Australia will host negotiations. But the headline event would need to deliver genuine climate commitments and action, Dr Talia told attendees, including work to phase out fossil fuels and keep 1.5C of warming within reach.

“COP31 cannot be another talk shop or debate over ideas. Our discussions here in Tuvalu and Fiji must deliver strategic action,” he said.

“We must call out both public and private financial institutions that continue underwriting fossil fuel expansion because if (it) can’t be addressed immediately, it certainly spells our total demise.”

COP31 discussions should also include commitments for more grants to endangered island nations, Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Teo told leaders, as their communities were suffering an unfair burden.

“Why should countries like Tuvalu take on more debt to protect ourselves from a climate crisis we did so little to cause?” he said “Climate finance must not push vulnerable countries deeper into debt simply to survive.”

Representatives from 30 nations arrived on the nation of nine islands and atolls early on Tuesday for a traditional welcome ceremony, followed by a brief visit to one of the sites being built by the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project.

The program is reclaiming coastal land over four sites, with a goal to add more than 20ha that are safe for habitation by the end of 2026. The land would be built 6m above the reef to ensure it would resist even the highest tide of 3.2m, project manager Alan Resture said, and would be used to accommodate housing, schools and hospitals.

“What we are doing here has shown to the world that adaptation is not a dream,” Mr Resture said.

The event was the first official visit to Tuvalu for Mr Albanese, who said the project showed what actions could be taken to adapt to existing global warming while planning to avoid greater impacts.

“It was a reminder as well that we can’t afford to just deal with adaptation, as important as that is,” he said. “We need to deal with the fundamental issue of the rising emissions and the need to keep 1.5 degrees very much on the table.”