A survey released on the eve of the global climate change conference currently underway in Paris concluded that Pacific Island nations are among "the most vulnerable countries in the world, where people are already experiencing devastating climate change impacts, such as higher intensity storms, sea level rise, saltwater intrusion and drought." One of the islands featured in the survey, conducted by the United Nations University Institute, is Tuvalu, an atoll located between Australia and Hawaii.
There, 70 percent of households reported they would migrate if climate stressors worsened in the years ahead. The survey also found that 15 percent of the population of Tuvalu, a country with just over 10,000 residents, has already left in the last 10 years. "Pacific islanders are facing the brunt of climate
change impacts and are increasingly finding themselves with few options," Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga said.
In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE conducted on the sidelines of the conference, Sopoaga, 59, discusses his battle in Paris for the survival of his island nation and his expectations of European leaders.
Q. Mr. Sopaoga, you gave a very emotional speech at the opening of the UN Climate Summit in Paris last week.
Sopoaga: Tuvalu's future at current levels of global warming is already bleak. Any further temperature increase will spell its total demise. No leader at this summit is carrying this level of worry and responsibility. I told the audience: Just imagine if you were in my shoes. What would you do? We want to assure that our children and our grandchildren have a future.
Q: You have been at the climate summit from the very beginning and are staying until it ends on Friday or Saturday. That's more time than almost any other world leader. What do you think the result of this climate summit will be?
Sopoaga:  We have been engaging in this process for many years, since 1992 in Rio. All this time we've been beating the same drum and singing the same tune in the hope that the countries that are bigger and have more resources and greater capacities will have the sympathy to join in our chorus. But it appears to me there still denial of the urgent necessity to act. Sometimes I wonder if there is really goodwill in the world to worry about saving human beings, or whether we are just using that as camouflage for our own interests, the self-centered drive for more profits.
Q: What is it that upsets you so much?
Sopoaga:  Some meetings leave you feeling disappointed and discouraged. At the Green Climate Fund meeting at the beginning of this summit, for example, people seemed unwilling to accept everything that we are already doing. They seem to be forgetting that the people living on atolls like Tuvalu are among the world's most threatened populations.
Q: You don't think people recognize that?
Sopoaga: They say we need to improve our data and to prove that the erosion, flooding and damage to food crops caused by cyclone Pam, which devastated our island in March, was in fact the result of climate change. But it's unfair to throw the onus of having to justify things scientifically back on the very small islands that are the most vulnerable. After all, it was the larger countries that created these problems.
This all leaves me wondering if there is true understanding or appreciation in the world for the plight faced by Tuvalu. This is really shameful. Our contribution to greenhouse gases is negligible and yet we are being held responsible for the consequences and the changes that need to be made by other societies. We are already spending money on this -- its part of our national budget. At the same time, we have also been doing our part at the community level, even in our villages. Ultimately, however, we are being forced to spend money to adapt to something that has been caused by other people -- through over-consumption and over-industrialization.
Q: Have the industrialized nations at least recognized the grave situation in which Tuvalu finds itself?
Sopoaga:  Our survival as a nation is dependent on the decisions made at this conference. This is not simply a stepping stone toward a better future. We are standing at the edge of the cliff.
QE: What do you mean by that?
Sopoaga:  Either we stand united and agree to combat climate change or we will all stumble and fall and condemn humanity to a tragic future.
Q: But the majority still seems to have trouble taking your demands into consideration.
Sopoaga:  What's that all about? Does the world want us to resettle? Some say it would be cheapest to evacuate us. But it would be a disgrace if that were the world's aim.
(Enele Sopoaga, 59, has served as prime minister of Tuvalu since 2013).
—Spigel