Protecting Tuvalu’s Nanumea Island from sea level rise

Nanumea, the fourth largest and most remote island of Tuvalu, is located 650 kilometers north of the nation’s capital. The outer island’s white shores are home to a population of 485 people and around 180 houses, only accessible to the public by ship. 

Many of Nanumea’s buildings and residential housing are along the shorelines, exposed to cyclones. The most recent cyclones reported were Tropical Cyclones Pam in 2015 and Tino in 2020, causing significant damage in Nanumea. 

To mitigate  future cyclone damage, the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project, funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), with additional contributions from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and co-financing from the Government of Tuvalu, is being implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as an Accredited Entity for GCF funding in partnership with the Government of Tuvalu and Hall Contracting, in close consultation with communities. 

The new infrastructure includes construction of 1,330-meters of “Berm Top Barriers” which elevate the natural storm berm along the foreshore by an extra 1.5 – 2 meters, making flooding during storms far less likely to over top the shore or penetrate inland into village areas and farmland, to safeguard food security and crops like “pulaka”. 

Hall Contracting is also installing a 177-meter Seabee Wall, with its hexagon, bee-hive-shaped design to take the energy out of rising waves while maintaining wall strength.

Seven Reef-Top Barriers are also being installed, each 25 meters long, built into the shore reef to slow down and break the force of the waves.

The work is currently 70 percent complete.