The Tuvalu Borrow Pits Rehabilitation Project, funded by New Zealand, aims to improve the living standards of communities living in Funafuti by filling in up to 10 borrow pits located on Funafuti Atoll and improving water and sanitation services. The project also aims to improve the Island’s resilience to the impacts of climate change such…
Up until recently, Funafuti, Tuvalu’s capital, had 33 small islets located around its atoll rim. One was removed in 1997. This year Cyclone Pam completely removed another islet and severely battered several others. Life for Funafuti’s islets seems pretty tough. In 1992, McLean & Hosking recorded 33 islets spread around Funafuti’s atoll rim. The figure…
Building harbours on atolls is problematic at best. Atolls are ‘living’ structures, 100% made from the skeletons of once living things (not counting the volcanic core buried far beneath them). They need to be unconstrained to grow, or at least maintain, their current structures, especially their islands. To keep in shape, rubble and sand needs…
The Tuvalu Borrow Pits Rehabilitation Project, funded by New Zealand, aims to improve the living standards of communities living in Funafuti by filling in up to 10 borrow pits located on Funafuti Atoll and improving water and sanitation services. The project also aims to improve the Island’s resilience to the impacts of climate change such…
A coral atoll, is a ring-shaped coral reef including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands/cays on the rim. The coral of the atoll often sits on top of the rim of an extinct seamount or volcano which has eroded or subsided partially beneath the water. The…