LocationsHow Tuvalu has challenged climate threats: TCAP in the media
December 18, 2025
Snip of a World Economic Forum video featuring TCAP’s land reclamation in Funafuti.
Tuvalu is the fourth smallest nation in the world and one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. With an average elevation of 1.83 meters, the nation is vulnerable to sea-level rise and increases in the severity of cyclones, combined with challenges such as capacity constraints and a narrow resource base economy.
Scientific projections suggest that, without action, up to half of Funafuti could be submerged during high tides, by 2050.
Despite some major challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic and bad weather and storms, the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project (Phase I) successfully closed on 7 December 2025. its lessons continue to resonate far beyond the small island nation of Tuvalu, capturing international attention and media coverage.
We share some highlights that continue to be shared and captured by the media. From building capacity of the stakeholders including men, women and youth to adapt to the impacts of climate change, to constructing coastal protection infrastructure to mitigate the impacts of sea-level rise, while safeguarding communities, the benefits of TCAP are already being felt across Tuvalu’s atoll islands.
TCAP was implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with Government of Tuvalu, was funded by the Green Climate fund (GCF), Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and Government of Tuvalu in its initial phase; and DFAT, New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) in follow up phases.
Lifting up youth, women and men
Lisepa Paeniu is one of the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project scholarship students.
In 2018, The Fiji Times highlighted how TCAP has invested in young Tuvaluans i an article titled: “Youths are the future of climate resilience,” published to mark International Day for Women in Girls in Science.
The story showcased the TCAP scholarship programme, which supported seven students to pursue studies in climate change, coastal engineering, and environmental sciences—fields critical to Tuvalu’s long-term resilience.
By investing in young people, the project invested in the future decision-makers of Tuvalu.
“The Government and the project team recognised that for transformational change to take place, investment in both short-term and long-term capacity-building was essential,” the story noted. “Complementing the conventional approach of targeting government officers, there was a clear need to focus on building a pipeline of young Tuvaluans, ready to lead their countries in addressing the challenges ahead.”
Investing in data for decision-making
Snip of a World Economic Forum video features TCAP’s use of airborne LIDAR technology.
The project’s commitment to capacity building was also featured in a 2019 Radio New Zealand article, highlighting Tuvalu’s high-tech mapping to adapt to rising seas. The story outlines how TCAP and the geotech firm Fugro captured coastal seafloor and land elevation data for the first time across Tuvalu, which can be used to map its future.
Arthur Webb, Chief Technical Advisor of TCAP, said: "It's the first atoll nation where we're capturing all of the islands in their entirety, which I think is very exciting and very important for the future, in order to grapple with the complexities of the relationship between sea level rise and the height of land."
This novel data approach was highlighted in a video and story for the World Economic Forum: how Tuvalu is using Digital Technology to save itself from rising seas in 2023. “Tuvalu is a leading example of how digital technology can be used to protect coastal communities from the effects of climate change,” the article concludes. “Other island nations can learn from Tuvalu’s experience and use digital technology to save themselves from rising seas.”
TCAP’s coastal engineering featured on Deutsche Welle’s Planet A YouTube series.
Building the future
In addition to building skills and technology that will make Tuvalu more resilient in future, a major part of the TCAP project involved building physical coastal protection infrastructure designed to reduce the vulnerability of homes, schools, hospitals, and other assets, and minimize wave-induced damages in Funafuti and on the outer islands of Nanumea and Nanumaga. This “extraordinary engineering feat” was covered in a 60 Minutes documentary in 2024, highlighting the steps taken by TCAP to protect the nation’s shorelines.
In 2025, the news network Deutsche Welle also covered this coastal engineering work in its 25-minute Living Planet Podcast Series; as well as in its 11-minute Planet A YouTube series, exploring the shift towards an eco-friendly world. In 2025, the Washington Post highlighted the work done by TCAP to help the nation adapt to a changing climate in this interactive photo-feature about warming oceans driving tuna from the Pacific islands.
The Guardian newspaper also featured the 7.8 hectares of raised, flood-resilient land in Funafuti and shoreline infrastructure completed by TCAP; and lessons relevant for other islands facing sea-level rise: that reclamation should be an option for people determined to stay on their land.
As covered by the Pacific News Service, the lessons of TCAP have spread far beyond the project.
During a recent high-level donor roundtable to discuss learnings for the future from the TCAP project, Tuvalu Minister for Home Affairs, Climate Change and Environment, Dr Maina Talia said: “This roundtable is not just about projects. It is about the very survival of our people. It is about unlocking the financial support we urgently need and necessary to secure Tuvalu’s future – the socio-economic systems that support society.”
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