The Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project (TCAP) was launched in 2017 to meet the challenges to

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...

resulting from climate change and sea-level rise affecting the islands of Tuvalu. Tuvalu was the first country in the Pacific to access climate finance from

Green Climate Fund The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a Funding, fund for climate finance that was established within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Considered the world's largest fund of its kind, GCF's objective ...

, with the support of the

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

. The day-to-day activities of TCAP are managed by a team located within Tuvalu’s Climate Change and Policy Unit, with TCAP’s Project Management Unit reporting to the Project Board. TCAP is intended to run for 7 years. Projects that are part of TCAP are works on

Funafuti Funafuti is an atoll, comprising numerous islets, that serves as the capital of Tuvalu. As of the 2017 census, it has a population of 6,320 people. More people live in Funafuti than the rest of Tuvalu combined, with it containing approximately 6 ...

to provide a platform above the level of storm surges, and projects on the outer islands of

Nanumea Nanumea is the northwesternmost atoll in the Polynesian nation of Tuvalu, a group of nine coral atolls and islands spread over about of the Pacific Ocean just south of the equator and west of the International Date Line. Nanumea is with a po ...

and

Nanumaga Nanumanga or Nanumaga is a reef island and a district of the Oceanian island nation of Tuvalu. It has a surface area of about 3 km2 with a population of 391 (2022 census). History On 9 May 1824 a French government expedition under Captain ...

that aimed at reducing exposure to

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of Wind wave, waves, Ocean current, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts ...

by providing a buffer during storms. TCAP is also intended to build the capacity of the national government on Funafuti and island local communities to adapt to climate change.

Project Funding

US$36 million was provided by the

and US$2.9 million co-financing from the Government of Tuvalu. The Australian

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is the department of the Australian government responsible for foreign policy and international relations, development aid (under the name Australian Aid), consular services, overseas trad ...

(DFAT) also provided funding for the TCAP of AU$2 million to TCAP, to assist in covering additional costs related to COVID-19. On 10 November 2023, Tuvalu signed the Falepili Union, a bilateral diplomatic relationship with Australia, under which Australia will increase its contribution to TCAP and the Tuvalu Trust Fund. Australia will also provide an pathway for citizens of Tuvalu to migrate to Australia, to enable climate-related mobility for Tuvaluans.

Nanumaga

The implementation of the TCAP on

was the construction of a berm top barriers on the crest of the main natural storm

berm A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier (usually made of Soil compaction, compacted soil) separating areas in a vertical way, especially partway up a long slope. It can serve as a terrace road, track, path, a fortification line, a b ...

that runs parallel to the foreshore area of the main village on the western coast of Nanumaga. The berm top barriers consists of of buried geotextile mega containers, each approximately long, which raises the height of the storm berm by around .

Nanumea

The implementation of the TCAP on

, was the construction of berm top barriers along the crest of the main natural storm berm, which is intended to protect approximately of high value shoreline. For approximately of coastline in front of the church, following consultation with the

Falekaupule The Falekaupule on each of the Islands of Tuvalu is the traditional assembly of elders or ''te sina o fenua'' (literally: "grey-hairs of the land" in the Tuvaluan language). Under the Falekaupule Act (1997), the powers and functions of the ''Fale ...

, it is proposed to reinstate the former shore by constructing a new seawall made from precast concrete interlocking Seabee units, which are concrete hexagonal blocks with a hollow core, where there are the remnants of existing but crumbling hard coastal protection measures.

Funafuti reclamation

The implementation of the TCAP on Funafuti was a land reclamation project, which commenced in December 2022. Sand was dredged from the lagoon to construct a platform on

Fongafale Fongafale (also spelled Fogale or Fagafale) is the largest and most populated of Funafuti's islets in Tuvalu. It is a long narrow sliver of land, 12 kilometres long and between 10 and 400 metres wide, with the South Pacific Ocean and reef on the ...

islet that is meters long and meters wide, giving a total area of approximately 7.8 ha. (19.27 acres), which is designed to remain above sea level rise and the reach of storm waves beyond the year 2100. The platform starts from the northern boundary of the Queen Elizabeth Park (QEP) reclamation area and extend to the northern Tausoa Beach Groyne and the Catalina Ramp Harbour.

Coastal hazard online modelling platform

The

Pacific Community The Pacific Community (PC), formerly the South Pacific Commission (SPC), is an international development organisation governed by 27 members, including 22 Pacific island countries and territories around the Pacific Ocean. The organisation's hea ...

(SPC) collaborated with TCAP to create an online platform that provides Tuvalu with the ability to identify, plan for, and reduce risks associated with sea level rise and more frequent intense storms driven by climate change. The online platform covers all nine of Tuvalu’s atolls and islands. It allows the government, and local communities to make informed development decisions in relation to where to build on the

islands of Tuvalu Tuvalu consists of nine separate islands: six atolls and three reef islands. An atoll typically consists of several motus: Tuvalu has a total of 124 islands and islets. Each island is surrounded by a coral reef. The soils of Tuvalu's islands are ...

. It includes coastal inundation modelling due to sea level rise and storm waves, shoreline change detection and monitoring, damage and loss, and tools to identify marine hazards exposure.

Topographic and Bathymetric Survey

In May 2019, TCAP signed an agreement with Fugro, for it to carry out an airborne LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) survey across the nine

. LIDAR is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser that will produce high quality mapping of the reef and lagoon

bathymetry Bathymetry (; ) is the study of underwater depth of ocean floors ('' seabed topography''), river floors, or lake floors. In other words, bathymetry is the underwater equivalent to hypsometry or topography. The first recorded evidence of wate ...

(sea floor mapping to 50-meter depths) and accurate

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

(land elevation data). This aerial survey will provide high quality baseline data to assess the relationship between water levels and wave dynamics and their impact on the islands of Tuvalu. The survey will also provide baseline data for shoreline monitoring, coastal vulnerability assessment and planning.

References

{{reflist Organizations based in Tuvalu Economy of Tuvalu Funafuti Nanumea Environment of Tuvalu