Pacific Islands' woes worsen amid worries over climate

For people in Tuvalu and other Pacific Island nations, retaining their homeland or searching for new homes are becoming big questions as constant seawater rises threaten to submerge their countries in coming decades.

Tuvalu, formerly known as the Ellice Islands, can be one of the first countries in the world to disappear due to climate change. Comprising nine islands midway between Australia and Hawaii, over 11,000 people have their homes on a landmass of just 26 square kilometers.

A great majority of Pacific Islands' people will still be adapting to climate change in their home country by 2050, according to a comprehensive report on Pacific Islands' population trends to 2050 by the University of Auckland.