The Taiwanese Garden Countering Climate Change in Tuvalu
The tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu is on the frontlines of climate change. This leads to daily challenges for its people, including how to get enough food. Now Taiwan is helping feed more mouths.
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00:00 69-year-old Celina Kalisi prepares lunch in her home in Tuvalu.
00:06 Raw fish is an everyday meal in the tiny South Pacific nation.
00:10 But less common are the freshly grown vegetables she mixes it with.
00:14 "Usually buy tomatoes, cucumber, sometimes we have spring onions, we have English cabbage
00:24 and Chinese cabbage."
00:27 The vegetables are from a special garden a short walk from Kalisi's house.
00:32 But the small plot isn't run by Tuvaluans.
00:35 A team of Taiwanese agricultural experts grows crops here, including radish, pumpkin and
00:41 papaya, with seeds from Taiwan, more than 7,000 kilometres away.
00:47 The project is funded by the Taiwanese government, in a country where a quarter of the 11,000
00:53 people have diabetes and almost three quarters are overweight.
00:57 "In the past, they only ate fish, rice and sausages, frozen food.
01:04 So we use the vegetables from these three farms to provide local residents with a balanced
01:12 diet."
01:13 The foreign produce is a welcome boost, as this small, low-lying nation grapples with
01:19 the effects of climate change.
01:21 "In Tuvalu, not only is land limited and the soil infertile, but rising sea levels mean
01:27 the soil has salt in it and land is more frequently flooded.
01:32 So the team in this garden make their own soil, and when they plant the vegetables,
01:36 they raise them up from the ground."
01:40 Taiwan runs three gardens just like this in Tuvalu, one of its few official allies.
01:46 Most other countries have diplomatic ties with China, which claims sovereignty over
01:50 Taiwan and exerts influence to keep it isolated among the international community.
01:57 Projects like this are seen as Taiwan's way of giving back to its friends.
02:01 There are more than 30 kinds of fruits and vegetables in these gardens, producing a total
02:06 of five tonnes of food per month for Tuvaluans.
02:09 "All the vegetables before were imported.
02:13 Now you can buy some of them locally, so it's a bit cheaper now.
02:19 So it's really helping the food intake for the people of the country."
02:26 Vegetables from the Taiwanese gardens are sold at a twice-weekly market in the capital,
02:31 Funafuti, with some buyers queuing for hours before it opens.
02:35 "I come to buy this because it helps us stay healthy.
02:41 Capsicum is the most that I wanted because it makes the taste of the food yummy."
02:48 For Tuvaluans, these specially grown vegetables offer not just a balanced diet, but seeds
02:53 of hope for the next generation.
02:56 Fostering strength as they gear up to face the threats to their country's existence.
03:03 Klein Wong and Louise Watt for Taiwan Plus.
03:06 (water splashing)