Coastal and Climate-Exposed Regions

Low-lying island nations sit among the most existentially exposed places on Earth to sea level rise, since much of their land area lies barely above the current high-tide line. Tuvalu and Kiribati, scattered across the central Pacific, have average elevations of only one to two meters, and Kiribati has purchased land in Fiji as a contingency for eventual relocation of its population, while Tuvalu has pursued a "digital nation" project to preserve its statehood, government functions, and cultural archive online in case its physical territory becomes uninhabitable. The Maldives, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean with a similarly low average elevation, has built seawalls around its capital, Malé, and has periodically raised the possibility of relocating its population abroad, illustrating how sea level rise translates directly into questions of sovereignty and national survival for these states.