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Tuvalu

A low-lying atoll state facing the loss of habitable territory within a lifetime.

How this page works

Six sections are filled in: the parts that are stable and factual. Four are yours — evidence, perspectives, evaluation and the current connection. Those four are where the marks are, and they are deliberately empty. A case study only counts once you have completed them.

↧ Download the Tuvalu template Word · ready to fill in · the six given sections already completed
Before you write about this one

Avoid writing about Tuvalu as though it has already disappeared. Check what is projected against what has happened.

§ 01

The ten-part record

01 · Location Filled in for you

Tuvalu
8.0°S 178.1°E · scale: National

See this case in context on the case study map.

02 · Geographic context Filled in for you

A very small, very low island nation in the Pacific with almost no land above a few metres. Freshwater is limited and easily contaminated by saltwater intrusion.

03 · Processes Filled in for you

What is changing here, and the mechanisms driving it.

  • Sea level rise reducing habitable land
  • Saltwater intrusion into freshwater lenses
  • Coastal erosion and storm damage
  • Planned migration and questions of statehood
04 · Evidence You build this

Find these, and write the year beside every figure. A statistic without a date is not evidence.

  • Maximum and average elevation
  • Observed rate of local sea level rise
  • Population, and projected migration numbers
  • Tuvalu's share of global emissions
Your figures go here
05 · Stakeholders Filled in for you

Who is affected, and separately, who holds the decision-making power.

  • Tuvaluan citizens and future generations
  • The Tuvaluan government, negotiating internationally
  • Australia and New Zealand as potential destinations
  • International legal bodies on statehood and maritime boundaries

Named above as a starting list. For each one, add what they actually want, and note where two of them want incompatible things.

06 · Perspectives You build this

Find two sources that disagree about this case — not two summaries of the same view. Record who each is, what they claim, and what interest they have. A perspective without a holder is not a perspective.

Your notes go here
07 · Concepts Filled in for you

Which of the six apply here, and what each one reveals.

  • Possibility. Adaptation has a limit, and this is what reaching it looks like.
  • Power. Among the smallest emitters, facing among the largest consequences.
  • Place. What happens to a nation's identity when its territory goes?
08 · Evaluation You build this

How significant is this? How effective was any response? What are the limitations of your evidence? What else could explain the pattern? Reach a judgement and defend it.

Your notes go here
09 · Current connection You build this

One dated development from the last twelve months. Does it strengthen, weaken or complicate the case as recorded above? Update this every time you revisit the case.

Your notes go here
10 · Exam use Filled in for you

Existential risk, climate justice, and the limits of adaptation.

Now go and build the other four

Reading this page is not the same as having a case study. Take the template, find the evidence, and fill in sections 4, 6, 8 and 9 in your own words.

↧ Download the template Or take the blank version for a case of your own
§ 02

Where to look

Start here. Prefer the organisation that produced the data over anyone summarising it.

Links checked 27 August 2026 · external links open in a new tab

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