Nearly one-third of Tuvalu residents apply for Australian climate change visa program

Nearly a third of Tuvalu’s citizens are seeking a landmark climate visa to live in Australia, as rising seas threaten the Pacific nation’s palm-fringed shores. Australia is offering visas to 280 Tuvalu citizens each year under a climate migration deal Canberra has billed as “the first agreement of its kind anywhere in the world”. More than 3,000 Tuvaluans have already entered a ballot for the first batch of visas, according to official figures on the Australian programme, almost a full third of the nation’s population, according to official figures seen by AFP news agency. One of the most climate-threatened corners…