15 Feb 2018

Researchers find that Tuvalu is growing

From , 6:01 am on 15 February 2018

With sea levels rising dramatically as a result of climate change, low-lying Tuvalu is often considered to be sinking.

But a team of researchers from the University of Auckland, who mapped the shoreline over the past 40 years, have found that it's actually grown.

One of the researchers, Dr Murray Ford, says this means that the land is more dynamic than first thought.

He told Jamie Tahana that doesn't mean that Tuvalu is not being dramatically affected by climate change, it's just that, in this case, the coral atolls aren't static objects waiting to submerge.

Funafuti's oceanside shoreline, Tuvalu

Funafuti's oceanside shoreline, Tuvalu Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades