(upbeat tropical music) (engine whirring) (motorbike whirring) - [narrator] i'd say most people have never heard of tuvalu.

those who have, probably couldn't even find it on a map. i've read stories and seen documentaries about tuvalu and i've always wondered, what could be told that hasn't already been done? i came up with an idea, bring a group of talented filmmakers to tuvalu. together, we would work with local youth to produce a documentary on how climate impact and the rising sea level threatens the very existence of this tiny island nation. - hey, we made it. (laughing) - welcome to tuvalu. - let's go. - all right. - awesome. - [narrator] let's go. (tropical island music) - woo! - [narrator] the people we met, had never held a video camera before. - [woman] do you guys see it? - [narrator] but had a story to share with the world. - can we get a mic check on that? - [narrator] now they had a way to do it. this is the real story of tuvalu. (tropical island music) (indistinct) (motorbike whirring) (tropical music continues) most of you should know why we're here.

typically when i go somewhere, i tell the story of wherever i am. it's my perspective. the goal of this project, is to have you tell your story, from your perspective. so we're simply the facilitators. we've brought the tools and the knowledge and in a very condensed time we're going to help you to tell your story. how many of you have any video experience at all, anybody? okay, so you're all novices, who've never done it before. you wanna be able to let people know what makes this place such a cool place. what makes it unique? what makes it special? anything that shows traditional life, that's at risk of disappearing. (bright classical music) (laughing) - good, how does she look? - i feel like this side is a bit lower. (laughing) - a good way

to measure this, is using that little air bubble. see if it's centered. is it better? - oh. okay, yep. - [man] hello. - audio, you're getting that sound. - we already adjusted to (indistinct). so if you want, you can (indistinct) a little bit. - that's pretty good. so again, there's more space in front of her. so she's talking to me and then when i do the interview, i don't wanna stand. i wanna be, - sitting. - [narrator] sitting, i wanna be on the same eye level. - [student] eye level. - [narrator] so if you were standing, i would stand. if i'm sitting, i'm gonna do this. if we're on the ground, you should be on the ground. (engine whirring) (tropical island music) - [woman] tuvalu's a pretty remote place, given that you do have to jump on a few planes to get here. (engine whirring) it's not on a tourist map. so tuvalu has three flights a week. tuesday thursday, saturday. this is quite irregular for the pacific. as a result, people don't generally come to holiday here.

it's more for the intrepid traveler. (engine whirring) - most of the people go on bikes and a few cars, on the island. it's the main transportation here. it's pretty amazing. there are more bikes than people on the island. the whole of tuvalu, it's around 11,000. i'll say four to 6,000 that live on the island. here on the capital, funafuti. that's where i'm from, i'm from here. i grew up on the (indistinct). - it's definitely unique. (rooster crowing) (indistinct) people are friendly, welcoming. they have a very strong identity of who they are, where they're from, what are their traditions? so i think there's a real paradox between what we see here is absolute beauty. but on the other hand, you have the most relaxed, laid back, welcoming people. (children chattering) it feels like the crime just hasn't come yet.

from what i've heard and what i've seen, pretty much everyone we speak to, from government, from community. if we really look at some of the problems, if you like, the challenges and we say what's causing it, what's causing it? if we try and get to the root cause, particularly of crops not being particularly good, of incidences of health problems, it does come back it seems, to climate change. (tropical island music) here we are in funafuti. it's around 12 kilometers long. eight kilometers is overcrowded with houses. then the last four kilometers is an open rubbish dump. (waves rolling) crazy enough, the highest place here is one and a half meters or so, above sea level. (motorbike whirring) there's a sign saying, "in a tsunami, run to the higher ground." where is higher ground? a government building, it's two stories high. there's no higher ground here. my personal view is, it can be quite easy

to become relaxed here, because people are so happy. it looks so beautiful. you can't ignore these issues. you can have the smartest people on here, but ultimately, that's not enough. - [reporter] good evening and welcome to the national news. here are the headlines. tuvalu joins the world in celebrating world environment day. - as a climate activist, i really started advocating on climate change, when i was still really young. i was actually born here in funafuti. (singing in tuvaluan) there's so many ways to say that tuvalu is really unique. the population here in tuvalu, is actually like maybe 70% of youth. (singing in tuvaluan) our younger generation had to like hold on to tuvalu follow and lead tuvalu onto a better future. (singing in tuvaluan)

the younger used to be the voice for the younger generation here in tuvalu, to the bigger nations, to the one that who is actually creating these factories and stuff. (singing in tuvaluan) they may not be affected, but they should look on the other side for the smaller countries that are affected, because of climate change. (singing in tuvaluan) maybe 10 years time, or 20 years time, it will vanish on the map and then forgotten. (singing in tuvaluan) i don't really want that to happen. i will want my future kids and grandchildren to live here and learn the cultures in tuvalu. (singing in tuvaluan)

for me, personally, if climate change is to come and happen here in tuvalu, i would never flee this country. (motorbike whirring) ♪ i found a love ♪ for me - most of the time in the night, we walk down with our friends and i always take my guitar with me. ♪ not knowing ♪ what it was so every time we get bored, we grab the guitar and then start singing. ♪ i'll never give you up ♪ this time when they all come together, the songs that we sing, it shows who we are. ♪ we were just kids when we fell in love ♪ ♪ not knowing what it was

♪ i'll never give you up, this time ♪ ♪ you look perfect tonight (waves rolling) ♪ oh the trigger ♪ ain't nobody gonna pull it for you ♪ ♪ oh, the trigger ♪ ain't nobody gonna pull it for you ♪ (laughing) i believe that music is something that bring people together. (guitar strumming) i started to play guitar when i was eight years old. (singing in tuvaluan) music was something that i really love and because of how i felt

and how i see people when they sing and how i felt, it touched me. music is life, for me. music is everything. (singing in tuvaluan) the song that i dedicated to my fiance, was a tuvaluan song. if i explain it in english, it will be just like shallow. but if you really understand my language, it will be like so deep. that's why tuvalu words, cannot be expressed in english and it's important. (singing in tuvaluan) i don't wanna lose it. (singing in tuvaluan) tuvalu is a very beautiful place. it's very unique. there's a lot of sounds that when you wake up in the morning and like you know that you're in tuvalu. (chanting in tuvaluan) there's a rooster crowing (rooster crowing)

and there's a bike (motorbike whirring) running outside. also, there's water pumping. (water splashing) i know the wind, the breeze and the sea. it tells you like sometimes, when you stay far away and you dream of those noises, it brings you back memories of your island country. the type of food that we have here. type of drink that we drink. the tati, the breadfruit. yeah, so there's a lot of stuff that makes us tuvaluan. noises, the language and all the people. without the people, we're not tuvaluans. (speaking in tuvaluan) (exclaiming) (speaking in tuvaluan) i'm a power lifter. ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba! (shouting) i also represent tuvalu, in the power lift. looks like it's a success. whenever i go and represent my country, carrying that name, "bernard gotu on the bar from tuvalu."

it gives me that pride that i am from this country and i play for my country. (waves rolling) wherever i go, even though i go for education and things outside may seem so nice, seem so fancy, but whenever i'm away from tuvalu, it gives me that feeling, "ah, i miss tuvalu." i miss my family, who's away from me. (motorbike whirring) (guitar strumming) (singing in tuvaluan) thinking about that, tuvalu is sinking, that really upsets me and makes me sad, because knowing that my country is gonna disappear. (singing in tuvaluan) we're still fighting, getting help and sending message to people that, "we exist. we're also human. we don't wanna lose our language, our traditions." (singing in tuvaluan)

i'm proud to be tuvaluan. if we have to go, we have to go. it will take everything away being a tuvaluan. who will speak tuvaluan? that would be sad. (singing in tuvaluan) (bright music) - what's happening here in tuvalu is more of, if you like, an emergency. if we don't do things now about climate, environment, food, this is the reality that people need to look for alternatives on where their life in 30, 50 years is going to be. so the organization that i'm working with is live and learn environmental education in tuvalu. so the program at the current stage, is in a design phase. then from there, we will design

traditional, agricultural techniques and ultimately increase the consumption of more fresh produce. i know we have four youths in the room. the future is yours. in tuvalu, there are food security issues and food security is looking at readily available, nutritious and safe foods. - (speaking in tuvalu), okay. - [woman] we've just spent the last two days, working with communities. (speaking in tuvalu) and everything that's coming out, is that there are issues around climate affecting food quantities and quality, as well as a change in lifestyle, that seems to be affecting what people are eating, what their diet is and what their food preferences are. - [woman] he would like to see for the next five years. that his pulaka pits and tarot and also his bananas are growing very well. - [woman] these are remote peoples and i think that's why their cultures are still so intact.

if it weren't for cultural local knowledge, they wouldn't have survived, because until very recently, have not been dependent on the outer world. in my line of work, it was only recently that i started hearing the term climate refugees. they're totally reliant on ships taking imported food stocks over there. so we're really looking at ways that we can revive traditional knowledge, bring in some fresh produce to enhance tuvalu food futures. - i think all the people know here, most of the time when we got the high level at the sea, most of this place is full of sea water. so it's very hard to maintain, like everything here, because of the sea water. that's why we raise up the garden, because of the sea water. i think that's the only way we have to do, to raise up, to put on the table. like i think that's a good idea for that one, to raise up the bed. most of the people here in tuvalu,

some they believe of the climate change. but some, they don't believe. they didn't believe that tuvalu can like what the people think, but climate change, it's happened. everything changed. (waves rolling) (bright music) (water gushing) - [woman] what i've been told and from what i understand, is that the land is part of you. it's part of your identity. therefore, there are taboos around moving land from one island to another island, or even across here, across funafuti, from one part of funafuti to another part. so this really makes moving land a real issue. (speaking in tuvalu) - this is the seawall. we had put the retaining wall there,

just to protect the soil. we put the sea wall here, just to break up the wave force, to stop soil erosion. before in this place here, where the reclamation is, it's the lagoon. (equipment beeping) from there to here, all reclamation, this place was a lagoon before. there was no land here before. (equipment clattering) - [woman] the fact that we have sea wall to protect the soil erosion during high tide, is actually a really good idea. to implement strategies that stop soil erosion. (equipment whirring) if you're indigenous funafuti, you can take some soil from under your house and source it there. but their consistency of supply, is really up and down. so it's a real challenge. other people's houses are on hard coral, there is no soil. so these are all major challenges. - what kind of call-to-action, do you all want to come from this?

this entire experience, everything you've learned and the story we're telling. like what is it that you want people to get from this? - we want our children, our grandchildren to live here, to see what tuvalu is. we don't want to lose our culture and to lose our language. - saving tuvalu, is like saving the world, or saving the small pacific island, is saving the world. i'm like a turtle without a shell. so i do not wanna go around as a backless turtle or a shell-less turtle. so, i just did not wanna lose my home, because losing my home is like losing my culture, my family. (waves rolling) (somber music) - i feel very sad for the people here in tuvalu. used to be a lot of corals here.

you can see here, there's no sign of coral here, but there's a lot of rocky beaches here. so because of the high temperature and the high level of nutrients from land and all the corals been dead here and all the marine life and especially the marine organisms, they migrate to other areas, where they can have a little bit more cold water. it's been a huge amount of nutrients has been washed down from the land. so one of the strategies we have to plant these vegetable crops. (pigs oinking) we monitoring the nutrient level. it seems like from last year to this year, the nutrient is getting a little bit slightly reduced, compared to previous years. then we targeting most of the sites, that most highly polluted, especially from the dump site. so those focal areas we are targeting, to ensure that we protect our coastal and also our marine ecosystem. (engine whirring) (waves rolling)

- [man] we went to this conservation area and the guy who took us, he said that the land was bigger. (waves rolling) now it's getting smaller, the sea keeps taking off the soil and the edges of the island. - that way, that way, that way, that way, yeah. - [man] also, we saw another island. like there were no tall trees. there's just like sand and short trees. (brush crunching) (exclaiming) we have to take another coconut crabs to another island, because it's getting barren over there. so we have to take it to another island. if it happens to those islands, pretty sure it's gonna happen to the mainland. yeah, it's kind of shocking that everything starts with small, like the crabs and you move the animals. very soon, it will be moving people to other countries. (waves rolling)

(bright music) (laughing) - [man] here we are, on the airstrip of tuvalu. this is like the only open area where we can socialize. it will be packed with people every evening. (ball bouncing) (feet running) they play different sports: volleyball, football, soccer and rugby. they use this place from the end of the field, until the other end of the field. - tuvalu have a lot of unique way of living. (yelling) soccer match between the prisoners and the warden, is one unique way of how tuvalu live their life. in other countries, they don't trust their prisoners to go outside, 'cause they might run away. but here, the total of all the prisoners in the local prison, is total of nine.

(laughing) the warden trust the prisoners, that they will actually obey their rules and not actually run away, since tuvalu's really small. - if the plane's about to land, there will be a siren and announcement that there will be a plane landing. so everyone will clear out from this area. (engine whirring) they make sure that no car, no motorcycle, or animal, a dog, or a pig. they make sure that nothing will intervene with the plane. so far no plane crashes, even though there's no gate, there's no accident. (siren blaring) (indistinct) knows whenever there's a plane will land. so it's pretty safe. (plane whooshing) only in tuvalu. (rain splattering) (siren blaring)

- oh man! (siren blaring) (motorbike whirring) - i will never tire of the rain (laughs). (siren blaring) (rain splattering) (rooster crowing) (rain splattering) - wow, it's really raining hard. - yeah, it is. - yeah, i think tuvalu, (dog barking) is the best place here in the universe. (laughing) like you're safe to be here.

- tuvalu's unique in many ways. it saddens me to know that, tuvalu may be underwater in 50 years, so. - tuvalu is a place like no other. every time that you see one unique thing, there's like another thing that you've never seen before and it just gets better and better. - i think one of my favorite things was i was with my group and we passed a stand near the ocean and it had like fresh fish. like large, fresh fish. luma was like, "i'm hungry. let's just get a raw fish and then go eat it at the beach." (laughing) so she just paid for a raw fish, put on the back of the bike and then we went and ate it. like she just knifed it, or gutted it, i guess. (laughing) - knifed it? - knifed it? - like, knifed it, yeah. (laughing) - that's okay. - the only violence in tuvalu. - yeah (laughs). (laughing) knifing the fish. so i had never eaten raw fish before. can i have a bite? - [man] yeah. - [woman] do i just take the whole thing (laughs)? - [woman] i know it's a bit disgusting to you,

but sorry, it's normal to us. (laughing) - it was just really cool to experience that and just sit there (dog barking) and talk with my group and get to know people. it is a different way of life. in a lot of ways, i think you guys have life a little bit more figured out, than some of the larger countries that are always in a hurry and their life circles around money. i know that here, it seems like you need a little bit of money, because there's imported goods that you have to buy, but i really admire that your life isn't revolved around money. (somber music) - [man] there are more people that have opportunities. only a small percentage of these people are taken by the government, but then the higher percentage they are unemployed. yet, most private sectors are family businesses. some are employed in maritime center,

where a lot of young men go through this institution for seafarers. (bell ringing) - [man] left, right. right, right. - the current situation, is quite difficult to get jobs. the number of shipping company that actually recruiting (engine whirring) our seafarers, very minimal at the moment. the government is trying their best to get more shipowners to employ our graduates. it's quite challenging at the moment. (somber music) - living in tuvalu is completely different from living in fiji, or new zealand, or australia, because you depend on your families. the families provide for you. if you don't have employment, or don't have money, you still got families

where you live. if i have the chance to move out with my family, i would do that. these are messages from mother nature, that we need to vacate this area. i think it's about time for us to leave our country. even though we are brought up here, but it's about time. the only way is for us to move out of these areas. (rooster crowing) (bright music) (motorbike whirring) (bright music continues)

- we are here right now in the bread market. kaupule bread. this is where locals come and sell their breads. food, drinks, donuts, all those kind of stuff. (bright music) - [woman] (speaking in tuvaluan), which is a bread. - [man] in this small island, not much opportunity of jobs. so this is one way of people making a living. people can support the children in school and also help out with the family a little bit. (bright music)

(motorbike whirring) (tropical island music) - this local hat i'm wearing, it's called matili. matili, we get it from the coconut leaves. we get the leaves and then we weave it. i learned this matili, how to make it, since i was a young kid. i learned it from my father, my uncles. everyone knows how to weave it. we normally use it to protect our face from the sunlight, when we go out fishing. (tropical island music) there you go. when you come here, it's a paradise. (motorbike whirring)

everyone just friendly. you can sleep any way you can, without any trouble. climate change is real. it's a reality. i don't want my people to migrate to new zealand, australia, fiji, or whatever. i want my people to stay here, build up the island. build up the local culture, especially the economy. - yeah, (indistinct). (laughing) - [man] we only have lands here. we don't have any lands out of tuvalu. if we migrate, that's not our land. that's not where we belong. we belong to here, in tuvalu. this is our place, our home and our country. (relaxing music) ♪ the ocean ♪ the sand ♪ the reeds in the wind