A Whole Country Could Disappear Due to Climate Change: Levon Azizyan

The island nation of Tuvalu is preparing to relocate all of its 11,000 citizens due to rising sea levels and increasing storm intensity. Since 2023, a gradual acceptance agreement for climate visa migrants has been in effect with Australia. This was reported by Levon Azizyan, director of the Hydro-meteorological and Monitoring Center, on his Facebook page.

“The average height of Tuvalu is only 2 meters above sea level. Rising temperatures not only cause ice melting but also increase the intensity of storms that already inundate the islands. By July 2025, the Australian Commission had received nearly 9,000 relocation applications, which constitutes almost the entire adult population of the country,” Azizyan noted.

According to researcher Jane McAdam from the University of New South Wales, in conjunction with other resettlement programs in Australia and New Zealand, as much as 4% of the residents could leave the country every year, or nearly half of the population within a decade.

While relocation efforts continue, the authorities in Tuvalu have begun 3D scanning of the islands to create digital copies of lost landscapes and cultural sites. This is an attempt to preserve the disappearing country and leave a trace in history about it.

According to the UN Development Program, by 2050, coastal cities with hundreds of millions of inhabitants will face more frequent flooding. UN estimates indicate that rising sea levels are already affecting nearly one billion people around the world,” Azizyan wrote.