It's a desperate plan – with a hidden message The floor to... December 3, 2022 Reading time: 5 min Share The Pacific nation of Tuvalu is planning to create a version of itself in the metaverse in response to the existential threat posed by rising sea levels. Tuvalu’s Minister of Justice, Communications and Foreign Affairs, Simon Kofe, made the announcement in a chilling digital address to COP27 leaders. By Nick Kelly , Queensland University of Technology and Marcus Foth , Queensland University of Technology Minister Simon Kofe said the plan, which includes a "worst-case scenario", is to create a digital twin of Tuvalu in the metaverse to replicate its beautiful islands and preserve its rich culture: The tragedy of this outcome cannot be overstated […] Tuvalu may be the first country in the world to exist solely in cyberspace – but if global warming continues unchecked, it will not be the last.
The idea is that the metaverse could allow Tuvalu to " function gambling data turkey fully as a sovereign state " while its residents are forced to live elsewhere. There are two stories here. The first is about a small Pacific island nation facing an existential threat and seeking to preserve its nationhood through technology. The other is that Tuvalu's preferred future would be to avoid the worst effects of climate change and preserve itself as a land nation. In this case, this could be its way of getting the world's attention.
What is a Metaverse Nation? The metaverse represents a thriving future in which augmented and virtual reality are part of everyday life. There are many visions of what the metaverse could look like, the most well-known being that of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta (formerly Facebook). Most of these visions have in common the idea that the metaverse consists of interoperable and immersive 3D worlds . A persistent avatar moves from one virtual world to another, as easily as moving from one room to another in the physical world.