Threatened islands: A country flees into the virtual world

In the white sand of a South Pacific beach, a man in a suit and tie is standing at a lectern. Coconut trees tower in the background. The sea roars, and now and then a seabird calls. The man addresses his words to the world’s climate decision-makers: “I speak again today on behalf of my country about a small island that is probably among the first places in Tuvalu to be submerged by the rising sea levels,” he says.

Governments have not taken any action since the last world climate conference. The forecasts for global temperature rise would continue to be well above the target of 1.5 degrees. This means that islands like these are doomed. “That’s why we had to take action in the Pacific,” the man whispers into the two narrow desk microphones.

The broad-shouldered suit who speaks these words into the camera is called Simon Kofe. He is Minister of Justice, Minister of Communications and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tuvalu, a small island country in the South Pacific with only 12,000 inhabitants. The Tuvaluan has become known with dramatic performances like this one, which was presented during the world climate summit in Egypt last year. The year before, many media had already distributed his video address to the climate conference.

In this case he had also shown himself in a suit behind the lectern and in front of a blue background. In the end, the video revealed that the triple minister was standing in water up to his knees. The more recent video has also garnered a lot of response. The PR agency behind it was honored with an award this week in Cannes.

“Error in the Matrix”

Because even on these recordings, not everything is as it seems at the beginning. The camera’s zoom opens wider and wider during the minister’s speech, revealing more of the beach and background of the small island called Te Afualiku. But something is wrong: in some places on the paradisiacal island on which Kofe is written, new shadows, leaves and coconuts suddenly appear out of nowhere.

Black spots appear, which are gradually replaced by sand, palm trees and rocks. It appears like a loading error, stalled buffering, “an error in the matrix”. It becomes clear that the white dream beach, the red-brown rocks and the green palm trees as well as the turquoise water are computer graphics.

In the end, the island floats in a black space, virtual birds circle above it. “As our country disappears, we have no choice but to become the world’s first digital state,” announces Kofe. It’s an idea like something out of an episode of the TV dystopia Black Mirror: A doomed country creates a digital twin to ensure its survival.

“Our land, our ocean, our culture are the most valuable things we have. To keep them protected regardless of what happens in the physical world, we will move them to the cloud,” Kofe said. The plan: To create a virtual copy of the island nation in the Metaverse, complete with sandy beaches and coral reefs, but also archiving the country’s recipes, music and history.