Sinking islands?

1
Sinking islands?

• Tuvalu and climate change in the Sydney Morning
  Herald

Carol Farbotko University of Tasmania Hobart,
Australia
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Structure

• Part 1 - Tuvalus socioeconomic profile
• Part 2 - Tuvalu and climate change
• Part 3 Media representation of
  Tuvalu and climate change

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Sourcehttp//www.sptc.gov.au/map.htm
Part 1 Tuvalu
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Sourcehttp//www.tuvaluislands.com/maps/maps-inde
x.htm
Part 1 Tuvalu
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Population statistics
Population1 9,600
Population density1 369 persons/km2
Urban population1 47
Life expectancy1 Male 61.7 Female 65.1
Adult literacy2 Male 95 Female 95
Access to safe water2 85
Access to sanitation2 49
Source 1 Secretariat of the Pacific Community
2004 figures based on 2002 Census 2
United Nations Development Programme1999
Part 1 Tuvalu
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Projected adverse consequences of climate change
in small island states

• Coastal erosion and land loss
• Flooding
• Soil salinisation and intrusion of salt water
  into groundwater aquifers
• Impacts on coral and fish stocks
• Impacts on agricultural production and human
  health

Part 2 Tuvalu and climate change
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Newspaper circulation
Publication Main distribution Weekday Circulation 2004
Sydney Morning Herald New South Wales 221,022
Daily Telegraph New South Wales 409,000
The Australian Australia 131,000
Source Herald Adcentre and Newsmedianet
Part 3 Media representation
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Sydney Morning Herald data
Time period 1st January 1997- 1st January 2003
Included texts News articles, comments and letters
Electronic search term Tuvalu
Total number of texts 67
Manual search topics Climate change, sea level rise
Number of texts associating Tuvalu with climate change 34
Part 3 Media representation
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Extract 1 Construction of sea level rise as a
serious concern

• Climate change does not simply suggest the
  onset of cloudy weather to the 10,588 Tuvaluans
  it is a matter of life and death.
• M. Riley Tiny Islands Join UN with a Sinking
  Feeling
• SMH, 18th February 2000, p8.

Part 3 Media representation
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Extract 2 Construction of sea level rise as an
inevitable event

• There is one pressing problem that no amount of
  money can solve. The nations highest point is a
  mere 4.5 metres above sea level.
• N. Korn High Net Wealth
• SMH, 30th January 1999, Spectrum p7.

Part 3 Media representation
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Extract 3 Dramatisation and use of stereotype

• With a highest land point of 4.5 metres above
  sea level, this slice of Pacific paradise is in
  imminent peril of becoming a paradise lost to
  global warming.
• M. Riley Tiny Islands Join UN with a Sinking
  Feeling
• SMH, 18th February 2000, p8.

Part 3 Media representation
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Extracts 4 and 5 Partial representation

• The Tuvaluan Government is considering
  abandoning the islands its people have lived on
  for thousands of years.
• D. Wroe Australia refuses to throw lifeline
  to drowning Tuvalu SMH, 19th July 2001, p1.
  
• There is nowhere else on earth that can
  substitute for our God-given homeland in Tuvalu.
  
• Toaripi Lauti of Tuvalus Prime Ministerial
  Special Envoy On Climate Change UNFCCC COP 3
  1997.

Part 3 Media representation
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Extract 6 Invoking voices of Tuvaluan leaders

• In an impassioned speech to the global warming
  conference in Buenos Aires late last year, the
  Prime Minister said We arethe most vulnerable
  of the most vulnerable of countries to the effect
  of sea-level rise.
• N. Korn High Net Wealth
• SMH, 30th January 1999, Spectrum p7.

Part 3 Media representation
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Media representationconclusions

• Images of inundation contribute to compelling
  news stories
• Tuvalu is represented as a victim-state with a
  bleak future
• Emphasis on Tuvalus vulnerability tends to
  silence discourses of resilience