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Tuvalu and the issue of Human security

Introduction

In the Pacific Ocean, north of Fiji, lies the island nation of Tuvalu (formerly known as Ellice Islands). It is a former British colony that earned its independence in 1978 (UN, n.d.). The nine islands that the nation is composed of are low-lying and there are plenty of lagoons as well as coral reefs surrounding the islands (The Commonwealth, 2013).

The island nation is directly in the path of climate change, rising sea levels is an immediate threat because of the very low elevation of the country, with it sitting only about five meters above sea level (Niehoff, E, 2023, p. 6). Due to Tuvalu’s sensitivity to rising sea levels and climate change in general, in 2022 in an attempt to salvage what they can for the future, the nation decided to be the first nation to fully digitalize themselves (The Guardian, 2022). The main objective of this essay will be to explain human security and what parts of it are threatened in relation to the Tuvaluan people. The effectiveness of the digitalization, as well as the effectiveness of the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union as adaption strategies in relation to human security will also be examined.

What is human security?

Human security narrows the perspective of security from a macro-level, for example the security of a nation, to a micro-level of the security perception of an individual human being. Human security places its focus on the daily life of people and the threats that are immediate to them. This could be concerns like if they will be able to provide food for their family on that given day, or if they might become victim to a hate crime because of their sexuality or gender (UNDP, 1994. p.22).

Human security consists of two main building blocks, the freedom from fear and the freedom from want. In the early days of the United Nations, these two blocks were given the same weight and priority. But in the UN’s 1994 Human Development Report (1994, p.24) a shift is called for, specifically for a shift from a focus on national security and security through military strength, to a security more centred on humans and sustainable development.

In the 1994 UN report that is mentioned above, there is a list of the seven main threats to human security:

Economic security
Food security
Health security
Environmental security
Personal security
Community security
Political security

These are all in some way relevant to the situation facing the Tuvaluan people, but for the sake of this paper, I have decided to only discuss food security, health, security and environmental security. I chose these because I believe these three are strongly linked with one another, and I see them as big parts of the troubles that the Tuvaluan people face. The paper also has a word limit, so it would not be possible to venture into detail on all seven security factors.

Food Security

Food security is a key concept of human security. It describes the rights of human to always have access to food. In both an economical as well as physical sense. This then means that not only do you need enough food to sufficiently feed everybody in a community, but it also means that there needs to be systems in place that can distribute the food (UNDP, 1994, p. 27). In Tuvalu, the inhabitants mostly rely on a mix of locally acquired food (agriculture, fishing) and food imported from overseas. However, in the last fifty years, internal production of food sources has declined and has been increasingly replaced by food imported from overseas (Fakhruddin, B, Tui, S, 2022, p.2).

Due to the ever-rising sea levels, water surges in Tuvalu are becoming more prevalent. This leads to sea-water contamination of the drinking water, higher levels of salt in the soil leads to failure of some of the staple foods grown on the island, such as coconuts and pulaka. Climate change also brings on more violent and erratic weather, increasing the frequency of droughts and powerful cyclones, which then in turn destroys even more of the islands own food production, forcing them as stated earlier to import more expensive foods (Niehoff, E, 2023, p. 26). Then we can see that from a food security perspective, even though there still is enough food for the islanders in theory, the economic strain put on them because of damages to their own food production, forcing them to buy externally sourced, more expensive food ends in the faltering of the nation’s own independent food security.

The Falepili Union between Australia and Tuvalu do not in any specific terms mention food or food security. It does however state that “The Parties, in the spirit of friendship, mutual respect and support for enduring shared interests, including each other’s stability, security, prosperity and resilience, commit to work together in the face of the existential threat posed by climate change” (Falepili Union, 2023). It is possible to put food security under the umbrella of this statement, but I believe that, the Union could have made more specific statements about the issue of food security. There are arguments that can be made against my claim. For example, the Union (2023) states that “recent technological developments provide additional adaption opportunities” and “The parties commit to work together to help the citizens of Tuvalu to stay in their homes with safety and dignity”, these statements can encompass food security, but it is my opinion that it still does not sufficiently discuss food security in a satisfactory way.

Health Security

A natural companion to food security is health security. In their book “Human Security” (2022, P.94) Andersen-Rodgers and Crawford write that “all human being has the right to a standard of living that ensures health and well-being for themselves and their families”. This is not something that the people of Tuvalu can take for granted. We can however start with some positives. Life expectancy in Tuvalu has seen an increase, in 2019, women in Tuvalu reached a life expectancy of 70 years, the number for men were 66 years. This improvement was in line with the other Pacific Island Countries (PIC’s), but the 80 years life expectancy set in the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) for 2030 are unfortunately still far from being realized.

On the other end of the scale we can see where Tuvalu is struggling. Their ability to cope with non-infectious diseases (for example heart disease, diabetes, cancer etc) has gradually decreased. And of these issues in Tuvalu, the situation concerning diabetes is particularly dire. In 2019, Tuvalu had the fourth highest frequency of adulthood diabetes in the world (22,1%), and the forecast paints a grim picture with Tuvalu projected to move into third place as early as 2030.

One factor that is scientifically proven to be a great risk and contributor to NIDs in adults is all forms of malnutrition in children. Malnutrition in Tuvalu for young children up to the age of two is an immense dilemma. 46,5 percent of children in this age bracket are considered obese, and another 17 percent are suffering from undernutrition (World Bank, 2022, pp. 8-9). Here we can see a clear connection between health and food security. As mentioned earlier in the paper, Tuvaluans have recently due to climate change been forced to import food, in replacement of the produce that they themselves are now unable to grow. The imported food is quite often poor in terms of nutrition, further exacerbating the issues of malnutrition on the island.

Connecting health security to the Falepili Union is also not completely clear cut. Although there are more mentions of actions that can positively impact the health of Tuvaluans. For example, in the agreement it is stated that in the mobility pathways that are created between the nations, the Tuvaluans are granted access to Australian health services. It also states that Australia should provide assistance and aid in the case of a public health crisis on an international scale (Falepili Union, 2023). The union does a better job at addressing some factions of health security than it does with food security in my opinion, but it is still a shallow approach that might not be enough in the grand scheme of things.

Environmental security

The human race has always relied on the natural environment around us. This stipulates that for this reliance to succeed, we need a healthy, well-functioning environment. The threats that we today see to our natural world is a blend of deterioration of both global as well as local eco-systems (UNDP, 1994, p. 28). This deterioration is very visible in Tuvalu. As we have seen and discussed already in this paper, the rising sea levels due to climate change has adversely affected Tuvalu in a number of different ways. From the already mentioned flooding, affecting drinking water and degrading the arable soil, to powerful cyclones becoming more and more frequent. All of these factors work together to weaken the Tuvaluans environmental security.

In the Falepili Union (2023), environmental security is dealt with in some ways. There is a desire for Tuvaluans to be able to stay on the islands, that the sovereignty and statehood of the nation shall remain, even through the impact of climate change. Australia has also committed in the Union to provide assistance in the case of substantial natural disasters.

The digitalization of a nation

As Tuvalu watches the ocean inch its way up the beaches of its land, they came to a quite revolutionary decision, in order to preserve their heritage and culture, to move their nation to the digital world. The plan is essentially to transfer all governmental tasks into the digital space, through 3D-mapping digitally preserve the land and also move all archives detailing their culture and history to this space. Through this they hope to hold on to their identity and internationally recognized statehood. Another aim is to give Tuvaluans that may be forced to leave the island, the chance to link with other Tuvaluans who also has faced that same fate (Tuvalu, n.d.).

The plan to digitalize in the face of annihilation is as good as any plan that is made under circumstances where, at least doing something is better than doing nothing. Viewing it through the human security sectors brought up in this paper there are both positives and negatives to take away. The preservation of culture and detailed 3D-maps of the island are likely not to make any substantial difference for either the Tuvaluans food, health or environmental security. It is to be said that it is a beautiful idea solely for the purpose of preserving a sense of national identity and pride, but in the face of malnutrition, crop failures and typhons it can do very little.

A problem with Tuvalu’s plan to digitalize all aspects of their nation is their plan to utilize blockchains. A blockchain is a “shared and immutable digital ledger, enabling the recording of transactions and the tracking of assets within a business network” (Smalley, I, Susnjara, S, 2025). With this blockchain Tuvalu hopes to put this chain to several uses. For example, a new currency based solely on bitcoin or any of the other already existing cryptocurrency. The idea of this to make the process of sending money for the citizens of Tuvalu easier, especially since they might become spread out across the globe due to forced emigration (Lee, A, 2022) The irony of this is in its attempt to save and salvage their nation, the Tuvaluans have chosen a technical system that puts a lot of strain on the environment. In the same article referenced above, Lee (2022) explains that blockchain transactions has been criticized for its energy need, which vast compared to “normal computing”. Lee also refers to statistics that claim that a lone bitcoin transaction requires as much energy as an average American family expends over 58 days, and that blockchains runs on fossil fuels that furthers climate change along. This then means that something the islanders view as helping them through their crisis, actually works in some ways to worsen the situation and their environmental security.

The Falepili Union

The Falepili Union is a treaty signed in November of 2023 by Australia and Tuvalu. The Union is a way for Australia and Tuvalu to strengthen the bond between the nations, but mainly as a security for Tuvaluans in the face of climate change and the appending loss of their physical nation (Australian Government, 2025).

Three of the main articles in the Union are climate cooperation, human mobility with dignity and cooperation for security and stability (Falepili Union, 2023). Earlier in the text when discussing the different types of human security chosen for this paper, I gave examples of what I think the Union does and does not address within those specific sectors of human security. Consequently, I will not delve into the Unions relationship with aforementioned human security’s but rather run through what I see as the pros and cons of this treaty.

Starting with the positive aspects of the Union. The human mobility pathway that gives Tuvaluans an opportunity to live, study and work in Australia (Falepili Union,2023) is a great way for native Tuvaluans to for example, access employment in Australia, and through remittances strengthen the home island. Or study and gain knowledge that they then can bring back to the nation, and in that way contribute.

Moving on to some of the drawbacks of the agreement. It in some ways puts Tuvalu into a situation of over-reliance on Australia. Even though today there is no indication that Australia would back out or in any way abuse the deal, geopolitics can quickly pivot, and Tuvalu might find themselves tied up and in the hands of a state whose motives might have changed. In an article in the Toda Peace Institute Kitara, T and Farbotko, C (2023) tells the story of Tuvaluan activists who expresses worry over the signing over much of their national security to Australia and therefore committing themselves to any other security partnership that then Australia partakes in. A valid worry as you today in Sweden joined NATO due to the very real threat of Russia, but in doing so now effectively is under the command of a destabilized USA that is moving quickly towards right-wing autocracy. Another point brought up in the article is the though the pathway gives opportunity, it also opens a corridor that the Tuvaluans long has rejected. This corridor being the label of migrant or refugee. A worry for many Tuvaluans is that if they chose to utilize the mobility pathway and move to Australia, they will face discrimination due to the bad connotations that unfortunately are put on the term’s migrant or refugee in today’s society where governments more and more pivot to right-wing extremism or at least conservatism (Kitara, T and Farbotko, 2023).

Conclusion

Rising sea-levels, increasingly violent and more frequent storms and other consequences of climate change has forced Tuvalu to take some though decisions. To preserve their statehood, sovereignty and history they decided to move their nation to the digital space. They have also signed an agreement with Australia, to further ensure safety and to provide options for its population during their time of need. Through the lens of human security, these two solutions have been explored and critically evaluated, to find out their effectiveness in tackling these security issues.

There are parts of both the Union with Australia and the plan to digitalize that works well in the context of human security and I have in my sections about food, health and environmental security discussed some of these positives. But I have also raised concerns and overall, it is my opinion that the adaptions strategies are not radical enough to save Tuvalu in the long run. Tuvalu fate lies not in their own hands, but in the hands of the global community. If radical global action is not taken regarding climate change, it will matter little what Tuvalu decides or not decides, if in the end they still perish to Australian wildfires caused by the steady rising global temperatures, it will be of little comfort that they at least have a website.

Reference list

Andersen-Rodgers, D. and Crawford, K.F. (2022). Human Security. 2nd ed. Rowman & Littlefield, p.94.

Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union. (n.d.). Available at: https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/australia-tuvalu-falepili-union-treaty.pdf.

Australian Government (2025). Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union treaty. [online] Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Available at: https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/tuvalu/australia-tuvalu-falepili-union-treaty.

Kitara, T. and Farbotko, C. (2023). This is not climate justice: The Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union. [online] Toda Peace Institute. Available at: https://toda.org/global-outlook/2023/this-is-not-climate-justice-the-australia-tuvalu-falepili-union.html.

Lee, A. (2022). Can the Blockchain Give This Island Nation Threatened by Climate Change a Digital Future? [online] Discover Magazine. Available at: https://www.discovermagazine.com/can-the-blockchain-give-this-island-nation-threatened-by-climate-change-a-43527 [Accessed 10 Dec. 2025].

Niehoff, E. (2023). Elena Niehoff (1096923) Tuvalu Rising Against the Tide: Sovereignty through the Loss and Damage Fund? [online] Available at: https://edepot.wur.nl/643012.

Susnjara, S. and Smalley, I. (2025). What is Blockchain? [online] IBM. Available at: https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/blockchain.

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The Guardian (2022). ‘First digital nation’: Tuvalu turns to metaverse as rising seas threaten existence. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6m3-HHuoiI.

Tui, S. and Fakhruddin, B. (2022). Food for thought: Climate change risk and food (in)security in tuvalu. Progress in Disaster Science, [online] 16(100255), p.2. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pdisas.2022.100255.

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