"We will not stand idly by as the water rises around us."
In his video message that went viral on social networks and broadcast on Tuesday at the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Tuvalu Islands wanted to strike hard.
In a suit and tie, pants rolled up to his knees, Simon Kofe gives a speech from the Tuvalu Islands in the Pacific, standing, facing a desk installed in the sea.
A symbolic and powerful image that reveals a sad reality that this small archipelago has suffered for several years: the inexorable rise of the sea.
Located near the Fiji Islands, this archipelago of 11,000 souls could be the first nation in the world to disappear due to global warming.
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“In Tuvalu we are living the reality of climate change, the sea level is rising, as you are watching me today at COP 26. We cannot just talk as the sea rises around us constantly .
Climate mobility must come to the fore.
We must take bold alternative measures today to secure our future, ”he pleaded with his feet in the water.
He even specifies that at the exact place where he is delivering his speech, several years ago was the mainland.
Since 1993, the water level continues to eat away at the coasts of the archipelago.
According to a 2011 Australian government report, it is growing at around 0.5cm per year.