In an earlier post I introduced the problem of the drought that Tuvalu was experiencing, however I am aware that since I first mentioned it around a month ago now, I have offered little update on the situation. Therefore in this post I am going to look at what the situation in Tuvalu is like now, as well as sharing with you some very interesting geopolitical repercussions of the aid response.
In early October the government of Tuvalu declared a state of emergency as a severe drought lasting over five months left the country with a severe shortage of freshwater. As previously discussed this crisis was met with a rapid response from other countries in the region. Both New Zealand and Australia quickly transported fresh water and water containers to the area to help ease the problem. In addition desalination units were provided with the ability to produce a litre of freshwater every minute from sea water. The government of Tuvalu also acted by implementing water rationing to limit the consumption of the scarce water resources.
In late October heavy rain arrived allowing the government of Tuvalu to lift the state of emergency that had been imposed and ease the rationing of fresh water. This rain marked the start of the rainy season for the region which naturally resolves any remaining water scarcity issues. However, action was still required, and a lot of work undertaken making sure that roofs and guttering were in good condition so to effectively collect rainwater.
This situation has served to show the importance of being well prepared for similar situations that may occur in the future. To this end emphasis is being on put on raising awareness about this issue and teaching the population how to effectively maintain systems to collect rainwater. Furthermore it has also highlighted the importance of making sure people are trained in fixing Tuvalu's own desalination plants and making sure spare parts are readily available.
It is excellent news that this crisis has been resolved and I am glad to be able to share with you this positive outcome. Now, you're probably expecting this post to end now with this positive conclusion. However, on reading about the relief effort I came across a really interesting geopolitical dimension to this crisis, and feel this is so interesting it too must be shared.
During the crisis Abkhazia provided Tuvalu with a large amount of freshwater, a seemingly helpful act from one region in response to the huge need of another. However if we look at little deeper at the donor state it gets much more interesting. Abkhazia is a break-away region of Georgia which considers itself an independent state. However, this independence is not recognized by Georgia which considers the area an autonomous region of the Georgian state. In addition Abkhazia has little international recognition with only six states world wide recognizing its independence. Most notable of these states is Russia which heavily backs Abkhazia and engaged in military conflict with Georgia over the disputed area as recently as 2008.
The donation of water by Abkhazia therefore sees the conflict between Russia and Georgia being played out in the Pacific. Georgian officials claim that this act is part of a strategy by Abkhazia to help aid-dependent countries and in doing so get them to recognize Abkhazian independence. Coincidentally just one month previous to this donation of water Tuvalu officially announced its recognition of an independent state of Abkhazia. While both Russia and Abkhazia claim that the aid was a no-strings attached response to a genuine emergency, the Georgian government claim that it amounts to Russia buying recognition for Abkhazia.
In response both Australia and New Zealand have urged Russia to stop any further action in the region. They see Russian actions as taking advantage of extremely vulnerable countries with the aim of furthering their own agenda which has little at all to do with the region.
Overall we can see that the crisis in Tuvalu is now over but the aid effort contained some really interesting geopolitical elements that are sure to surprise many reading this.
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