First climate migrants arrive in Australia from sinking Tuvalu in South Pacific

The first climate migrants to leave the remote Pacific island nation of Tuvalu have arrived in Australia, hoping to preserve links to their sinking island home, foreign affairs officials said Thursday.

SYDNEY — The first climate migrants to leave the remote Pacific island nation of Tuvalu have arrived in Australia, hoping to preserve links to their sinking island home, foreign affairs officials said Thursday.

More than one-third of Tuvalu’s 11,000 population applied for a climate visa to migrate to Australia, under a deal struck between the two countries two years ago.

The intake is capped at 280 visas annually to prevent a brain drain in the small island nation.

Among the islanders selected in the initial intake of climate migrants is Tuvalu’s first female forklift driver, a dentist and a pastor focused on preserving their spiritual life thousands of miles from home, Australian government officials said.

Tuvalu, one of the countries at greatest risk from climate change because of rising sea levels, is a group of low-lying atolls scattered across the Pacific between Australia and Hawaii.