Since the launch of Tuvalu’s state-of-the-art online hazard and risk dashboard, the platform has attracted significant attention at the local, regional and international levels. Designed to support communities to mitigate risks from the growing impacts of climate change, it has now been made available across Tuvalu, with training rolled out nationwide.  

Within just a few clicks, anyone can zoom into specific locations on any island in Tuvalu. The aim is to investigate scenarios of wave impacts and understand how projected sea level rise can affect the nation. The free digital hazard platform allows communities to track how shorelines have shifted over time, informing the design of climate adaptation strategies.

With Tuvalu’s land area spread across nine atolls, and an average elevation in the capital of Funafuti being little more than 0.5 meters above the highest spring tide levels, pinpointing exposure to rising seas on a house-by-house scale, is critical to community safety. This platform offers insights into how Tuvalu’s islands are evolving due to weather, climate change, storms, and human activities.

With support from the Green Climate Fund and implemented by UNDP, the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project (TCAP) provided the resources and technical expertise to create the online dashboard in collaboration with the Pacific Community (SPC), which also hosts it. Additionally, a version of the dashboard has been installed in government agencies across Tuvalu to ensure accessibility even when internet connectivity is unavailable.

Risk-management skills for early warning

A series of capacity building workshops and technical trainings have been rolled out across Tuvalu in 2024, to clearly identify, plan for, and reduce risks due to sea level rise and intense storms driven by climate change. When planning a new school, for example, designers and decision makers can check whether the area is subject to erosion over time; whether the land is very low lying and likely to be flooded, or other risks associated with storm wave impacts.  

Herve Damlamian, Team Leader for Ocean Prediction and Monitoring at SPC, said:  

“The platform has supported the community to decide what flooding means; how will they be exposed; which buildings and infrastructure will be exposed; and the economic damage in terms of replacing or repairing those buildings.  

“The information within the dashboard has been well received, with successful uptake among country decision-makers. Further tailoring will be necessary to keep responding to the needs of decision makers.”  

Damlamian noted that the dashboard is part of a larger programme of work, supporting Tuvalu’s increased institutional capacity to make risk-informed decisions. 

“A key component of the programme aims to strengthen Tuvalu’s technical capacity to undertake disaster risk assessment study, integrating communities’ perception of values in risk assessment. It aims to go beyond the current risk data and into more holistic risk knowledge in the long-term,” he said. 

Chief Technical Advisor to TCAP, Dr. Arthur Webb, noted that the platform has served as a great example of what can be achieved through close technical collaboration, and that other Pacific Island countries could learn from this experience to inform adaptation efforts. 

“It is commonly thought that such information already exists in the Pacific, but it does not. Much of our understanding of sea level rise impacts is based on very old and very poor data which routinely greatly underestimates this problem,” he said. 

"Before TCAP, no other climate change project had even measured land height above sea level across Tuvalu, let alone modelled wave impacts or analyzed shoreline processes at the national level. The range of users of the platform is diverse, and already informing the highest levels of policy discussion through to village-level awareness of individual household exposure to inundation,” he added.  

Reaching the last mile: connecting remote areas 

Training in how to use the platform has been rolled out to build government capacity in coastal resilience and adaptation, while incorporating feedback from users into the platform. Government users have been trained in geographic information system capacity, including staff at the Department of Lands and Survey, to understand the gravity of the challenges faced by Tuvalu. Training has also been rolled out at community level.  

Tautalo Iese, from the Tuvalu Red Cross Society, who participated in the training, highlighted the challenge of reaching outer-island communities, particularly due to storm disruptions or extreme weather. This emphasises the need for local skills building, to ensure communities can respond when emergencies strike.  

"The risk assessment training was highly informative,” she said.  

“This exercise served as a reality check for many island communities, allowing them to visualise how rising sea levels could submerge their homes and affect their village settlements, and how they would be affected. We engaged with island communities from the Northern Island groups to gain insight into their daily experiences and how climate change impacts them. We were presented with sea level rise scenarios using maps and models to predict potential risks.”

This platform data has already been used to support the design of new reclamation and infrastructure projects under TCAP; as well as new developments such as solar installation. It will also be used to inform Tuvalu’s discussions at the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, COP29, to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan in November.  

The platform is now freely accessible online at:  https://opm.gem.spc.int/tcap/home  

Background Information

Tuvalu is the world's fourth smallest country by land area. The nation’s atoll islands are low-lying and exposed to cyclones, sea-level rise and marine flooding, especially during storms. Worst case scenario sea-level rise projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimate that almost half of the land area of Fogafale will become routinely inundated during normal monthly high tides by 2050 – 2060 if nothing is done.  

In late 2023, TCAP-I (2017–2024) completed the construction of 7.8 hectares of raised, flood-free land in Funafuti, protecting densely-populated and exposed foreshore from coastal hazards. On the outer islands of Nanumaga and Nanumea, protective Berm Top Barriers – geo-textile bags filled with sand to raise the natural storm berm along the foreshore by an extra 1.5 metres­ to prevent flooding, measuring 665 meters and 1,330 respectively – were constructed to protect vital infrastructure such as homes, schools, hospitals, farmland and cultural assets. On Nanumea, a 177-meter Seabee Wall, with its hexagon, bee-hive shape designed to take the energy out of rising waves while maintaining wall strength, and seven Reef-Top Barriers were also built.

The Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project (TCAP-I) was funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), with additional contributions from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and co-financing from the Government of Tuvalu. The project was implemented by UNDP as an Accredited Entity for GCF funding in partnership with the Government of Tuvalu and Hall Contracting, in close consultation with relevant communities through an inclusive socially and environmentally aware approach.

The design of TCAP-II incorporates lessons from the TCAP-I project and best practices to bring about a transformative impact and sustainable development that is inclusive and effective. Preparatory work including feasibility studies and Hall Contracting will commence construction works in September 2024 and continue until August 2026. Lessons learned and capacities built through TCAP-I will contribute to providing a framework for future resilience against climate impacts. 

The Governments of Australia and New Zealand have allocated US$17.5 million to scale up TCAP in a second phase - TCAP II. The project will receive US$13.79 million from Australia’s DFAT and US$3.74 million from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).

United Nations Development Programme

UNDP is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries and territories, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet.

In the Pacific, UNDP provides regional and country support to 10 countries (Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu) and regional support to five countries (Cook Islands, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Tokelau).