Tuvalu: The First Digital Country

Tuvalu, located between Australia and Hawaii, is one of the smallest countries in the world, stretching a mere 10 square miles. Over the past years, rising sea levels due to climate change have been recognized to threaten the existence of the country. According to The Guardian's article “Facing extinction, Tuvalu considers the digital clone of a country”, 95% of the island will be flooded by king tides, severe seasonal tides, making it “uninhabitable”.

As a result, Tuvalu’s government organized the Future Now Project, a three part initiative aimed at nation preservation. In hopes to reduce the potential culture loss, the government is developing the idea of leveraging AR and VR technology to create a digital nation. In other words, one component is creating a metaverse of Tuvalu. That way, Tuvalians can immerse themselves in Tuvalu culture and society despite its physical existence sinking. Currently, one of Tuvalu’s nine islands, Te Afualiku, has already been recreated digitally using satellite imagery, island photos, and drone footage. This concept is not new as other countries such as Singapore utilize digital twin technology (digital replicas)

to help governmental planning and decision making.

Te Afualiku’s digital twin will be used as a reference when developing the Tuvalu’s metaverse. Within the metaverse, multiple digital twins will be created, each associated with one of the ten islands that compose this country. Not only will the physical appearance of each subisland be integrated into this virtual country, but also ancestral history, value systems, shared language, and societal customs will be embedded to encompass the rich culture of Tuvalu natives were worried about losing. In fact, one local resident, Ms Vano, states “We might want to start recording our stories and transferring our indigenous knowledge into soft copies or digital technologies for our identity’s sake,” in ABC News’ article “The backup plan”.

Despite the positive feedback this project has received, questions and concerns still remain. It is still unclear as to how individuals will be represented digitally, perhaps as avatars, and how they can navigate through the nation for the full immersive experience. In addition, some Tuvaluans are concerned about the authenticity diminished by digitization. Ms Pedro, a retired teacher from Tuvalu, states “To make another island so that we can visit on internet – no, I don’t agree with that” (ABC News, 2023). Similarly, Lily Teafu, another resident who works on climate change projects, expresses “Personally, I don’t want to learn my culture from technology… I want to learn it physically, on the land where I grew up” (The Guardian, 2023).  

Ultimately, the purpose of the metaverse project is to preserve the history and culture of Tuvalu for current and future generations. The Tuvalu population continues to tackle climate change effects on their waters every day. Although There hasn’t been intensive development yet, the government is sustaining the island as long as possible and preparing Tuvalu citizens for the unexpected.