Tuvalu, a low-lying Pacific nation, is facing an impossible challenge. At the current rate of global sea level rise, the entire country will be submerged by 2050.

As the ocean closes in, Tuvalu must ask: what happens to a country without land?

In addition to the displacement from loss of physical land, Tuvalu faces another threat: the loss of its rights as a nation. International law currently dictates that nations need a “defined physical territory” to exist, so Tuvalu risks becoming the first country to lose its sovereignty due to climate change. Tuvalu’s maritime boundaries, international voting rights, and voice on the world stage are all at risk.

Tuvaluan Minister Simon Kofe was scheduled to speak at COP27, the UN Climate Change Conference. Though it was expected to be a typical diplomatic address to assembled delegates and reporters, Minister Kofe used the moment to unveil a radical plan for survival.

Tuvalu will become the world's First Digital Nation, ensuring its sovereignty and ability to govern in the face of a worst-case scenario.

During his address at COP27, Minister Kofe outlined the multi-phase plan, which involves gradually migrating Tuvalu's government services, culture, and history to the cloud.

This digital transformation process will allow Tuvalu to retain its identity and continue to function even after its physical land is no more. The first step in this process is the digitization and recording of Tuvalu's land mass, which will serve as a crucial component in its legal fight for a revised definition of territorial sovereignty under international law.

Communicating Tuvalu’s heart-breaking decision to become the world’s First Digital Nation to world leaders relied on a coordinated PR approach.

With a confirmed spot at COP27, we created a film for maximum cut-through and directed people to a landing page. We captured their details for future communications while offering them an easy template to write to their own leaders, urging them to honour the Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree target (which no nation was on track to hit).

Knowing global support is needed to achieve digital statehood, we engaged local and global media to ensure our key message was amplified from the moment the story broke. Within 48hours we’d achieved global coverage on mastheads like The New York Times, Al Jazeera, The Guardian and Politico and were trending on Twitter and TikTok. This reach was pivotal, we knew we might need to reach millions to affect the key people at COP27.

The First Digital Nation launched with a film: Minister Kofe’s COP27 speech to world leaders.

In the film, Minister Kofe appeared to address the delegates from Te Afualiku Islet, Tuvalu’s smallest island (and the first part of the country that will be taken by the sea). As the Minister outlined his country’s plan for survival, the digital illustration painted a haunting vision of Tuvalu’s future.

The island environment was painstakingly recreated with glitching flags and flora that disorientated the eye. A slow, singular camera pull was designed to make viewers feel the isolation and vulnerability of the minister. Even the choice to leave the water’s edge still generating conveyed the enormity of the task ahead.

The striking vision of the minister, alone on the island, surrounded by a sea of darkness, became a powerful symbol of Tuvalu’s plight that quickly spread around the world.

With a $0 media budget, the project’s launch reached 2.1 billion people.

It was covered by 359 global publications, including The New York Times and The Guardian, and trended on Tiktok and Twitter. The website received global traffic from 160 countries, 118 in less than 48 hours.

This reach turned to action when, days after the announcement, a historic Loss and Damage Fund for nations like Tuvalu was established at COP27.

Most importantly, nine nations have agreed to officially recognise Tuvalu’s digital statehood – creating a pathway to sovereignty, that would secure Tuvalu’s maritime boundaries, international voting rights, and place on the world stage.

From here, Tuvalu plans to use a digital recreation of its islands to challenge the international criteria for statehood, specifically the requirement of a "defined territory."

The work was not just an announcement of a tragic climate adaptation strategy, but a powerful provocation for global action.