Tuvalu : Des filets et des espoirs
Bienvenue a Funafuti, l atoll-capitale des Tuvalu. Peu de gens seraient capables de situer cet archipel du Pacifique sur un planisphere. Il est pourtant bel et bien rattrape par les problemes de notre epoque.
Le rechauffement climatique, ses tempetes destructrices et les inondations d eau salee minent toute perspective de developpement. Pendant que l Etat et les programmes internationaux construisent de fragiles brise-lames, le poisson est synonyme de survie pour la population. D un cote, la peche cotiere constitue la seule activite de subsistance, et les embarcations doivent pousser toujours plus loin a cause de la pollution et de la surpeche. De l autre cote, l economie du pays repose sur la vente de licences a des navires etrangers qui chassent les bancs de thon en haute mer. Ironie du sort, cette activite alimente de gigantesques usines de conserves et un marche international qui contribue lui-meme a l effet de serre et a la montee des eaux.
Mais un micro-Etat comme les Tuvalu a-t-il d autres perspectives de developpement ?
Ce recit photographique montre l impact du changement climatique sous un angle humain. A l echelle d une petite ile de pecheurs tres peu resiliente, il a deja des consequences sociales, economiques et sanitaires bien tangibles. Les iles basses du Pacifique ont bien plus a raconter qu une simple histoire de paradis engloutis.
Tuvalu : Netting Future
Welcome to Funafuti, the atoll-capital of Tuvalu. Few people would be able to locate this Pacific archipelago on a planisphere. It is however well and truly caught up with the problems of our time.
Global warming, its destructive storms and salt water floods undermine any prospect of development. While the state and international programs are building fragile breakwaters, fish are synonymous with survival for the people. On the one hand, coastal fishing is the only subsistence activity, and boats have to push ever further because of pollution and overfishing. On the other hand, the economy of the country is based on the sale of licenses to foreign vessels which hunt schools of tuna on the high seas. Ironically, this activity fuels gigantic canning factories and an international market which contributes itself. greenhouse effect and rising water levels.
But does a micro-state like Tuvalu have other development prospects?
This photographic story shows the impact of climate change from a human perspective. On the scale of a small fishing island with very little resilience, it is already having very tangible social, economic and health consequences. The lower Pacific Islands have much more to tell than just a story of a sunken paradise.
