SPACE WIRE
There will always be a Tuvalu says prime minister as rising tides hit
FUNAFUTI, Tuvalu (AFP) Feb 19, 2004
Tuvalu will always exist as a sovereign nation even if most of its land has sunk beneath the South Pacific ocean, Prime Minister Saufatu Sopo'aga told AFP here Thursday.

The low-lying atoll nation of 11,500 people, north of Fiji, fears rising sea levels, caused by global warming, will sink the nation.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday a series of extra high, or "king" tides will hit the islands.

His government was already making provisions to move increasing numbers of people to New Zealand and the fellow Pacific nation of Niue.

But he stressed that the sovereignty of Tuvalu was not at stake and although people might leave, he did not see any prospect of it being abandoned.

"As long as Tuvalu is above sea water there will be people staying here. We will not move."

Sopo'aga said under the Law of the Sea their area of ocean, even if much of the land was gone, would still be owned by Tuvalu.

"Our claim would be maintained on this spot," he said.

In 2001 this capital atoll of around 5,000 people was completely inundated by the sea but because the weather in the region was calm this week the king tides are not expected to be as bad.

But Sopo'aga has no doubts the increasingly high tides hitting Tuvalu are part of a response to manmade global warming.

"The evidence is there, and our nation is suffering because of it," he said.

SPACE.WIRE