Life Onboard LAST UPDATE  February 11, 2009
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January 2, 2009 Tuvalu – Paradise almost lost
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Tuvalu consists of only nine main islands, with a total land area of just 26km² (Photo provided by Endou Shuuichi)
Turning his back on a lucrative career as a golf course designer, Endou Shuuichi left behind the daily grey onslaught of his life to find laughter and a more meaningful challenge on the other side of the world in the little known Polynesian country of Tuvalu. Spending the last ten years of his life photographing and documenting the beautiful island state, Mr Endou has made it his vocation to save this patch of paradise from slipping into the sea like a modern day Atlantis because of global warming driven rises in the sea level.
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Endou Shuuichi fell in love with the kindness and simple lives of Tuvalu inhabitants (Photo provided by Endou Shuuichi)
The delicate island paradise of Tuvalu has been independent from the United Kingdom for 30 years. Located within the Polynesian triangle, the nation's nine main islands made from coral reefs consist of very low lying land, which at its highest sits eight metres above sea level. Despite many years of British rule, the indigenous population of 10,000 suffered little persecution as there was little for the British to steal or exploit. Even the most populated isle, Funa Futi, is only a thin strip of land, 600 meters across at its widest point, and located around a deep blue lagoon. The populace lives a simple, self sufficient life almost entirely reliant on the sea, which they regularly take dips in -- even while eating meals -- in order to avoid the heat of the tropical sun. Coconuts are another staple of the Tuvaluan diet, and can be found lying on any one of the beautiful pink sand beaches that dot every island, making for a very flexible and idyllic lifestyle. None of the islands are home to mountains to create rivers, so all fresh water must come from rain, making it a precious commodity on the islands. The islanders have little written history and at political meetings everything is simply remembered by those present rather than being recorded. “There is no traditional culture -- just culture -- and it has been this way for 1,000 years, ” Mr Endou explained.
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The islands of Tuvalu are at risk from the coastal erosion from encroaching sea waters (Photo provided by Endou Shuuichi)
This quiet paradise land, however, is now threatened with extinction from the rising seas of global warming. At least five of Tuvalu’s smaller outlying islands have already disappeared as a result of the annual 5.8 millimetre sea level rise, which many experts estimate will continue to escalate. The true extent of the sea level patterns will not be know until 2013, which Mr Endou pointed out could be drastically too late to act. There is a 100-year lag between carbon emissions and temperature increases that bring the waters to doorsteps of the Tuvaluan people, and if the seas continue to rise, then Tuvalu accordingly has only a 100-year life expectancy at best.
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As part of his lectures aboard the 63rd Global Peace Boat voyage, Mr Endou demonstrated to participants how simple decisions in their everyday lives contribute to Tuvalu’s plight
After his first visit to Tuvalu in 1998, Mr Endou began to work tirelessly to save the endangered isles by establishing an NGO, Tuvalu Overview, to spread awareness of the issues that face Tuvalu and ultimately find workable solutions. To achieve the first stage of his plan, Mr Endou began the 10,000 Project, which aims to photograph and interview each of the10,000 inhabitants about their dreams for the future. “In the media, the people are not in focus, so I wanted to show the world their smiles so that others can realise that this is problem is human to human.” So far, Mr Endou has interviewed 1,000 people and will return in June to begin more interviews; in total he believes it will take another 10 years to finish the process. With a handful of local volunteers, Mr Endou has also begun planting mangroves and coral to try and slow the erosion, but neither measure can stop the process. Some locals have begun to believe the disappearance of their land is inevitable, and begun to migrate away from the island. However, many find it very difficult to secure visas and jobs in other countries, leading to an increased problem of illegal immigrants. Many suffer extreme discrimination in their new countries and numerous hardships trying to adapt to the ‘civilised’ world. Mr Endou does not believe the solution is for one country to open its borders to the entire Tuvaluan population, because their history and lifestyle would be lost forever. “We must find a solution where they can continue living on Tuvalu.”
To these ends, Mr Endou is working on a second project to begin reclaiming land from the sea as it encroaches upon Tuvalu, using the same techniques Japan used to reclaim the land in Tokyo Bay. Controversy surrounds this plan because other NGOs believe it is artificial and would destroy the local environment, Mr Endou points out the sea will do that for them if no-one acts. He hopes to use the 10,000 interviews to raise money for the project, which would include an airport and a solar power plant. However, finding base material for the reclamation is proving difficult. Mr Endou believes that the world needs a change in thinking in order to not only save Tuvalu from its watery death, but to save itself from its own consumption. He likes to hope this new way could be found in the people of Tuvalu, who have no mass consumption, no money, no market forces, and no competition with their colleagues, yet live a life of laughter and smiles. “We are not sure if people can live on these islands in 15 years because of our own wasteful patterns,” he noted.