Tuvalu is the fourth smallest country in the world, with a population of only about 11,000 people. It is part of a circle of small coral islands lying halfway between Hawaii and Australia. Islanders say that although the islands are small, they see their country as large, because of the vast Pacific Ocean that connects them to the wider world.

The average elevation is only 6ft above the high-tide mark that poses an existential threat from the rising sea levels that climate change will bring. The island’s population has therefore always been at the forefront of international climate negotiations, raising the alarm, demanding more ambition, speaking truth to power, reminding everyone that if we can save Tuvalu, then we save the whole Earth.

Perhaps because of that tradition, Tuvalu asked to take on the chairing role of a major Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels conference that will take place next spring. The event follows a conference held in the Colombian city of Santa Marta late last year, during which 57 governments came together to think about how we might accelerate away from the use of the fuels that are bankrupting and destroying our world.

The Colombian and Dutch governments facilitated, but what worked well was the civil........

© The Irish Times