Nauru’s US$65 million plan to save 10,000 residents from rising seas
The island nation plans to sell citizenship for US$140,500 to fund a new inland town and relocate residents.
What benefit do foreigners get with a Nauru passport?
What benefit do foreigners get with a Nauru passport?
Difficulty: Summiteer (Level 3)
Nauru, a small Pacific island nation, plans to sell citizenships to raise money to relocate about 10,000 residents from homes threatened by rising sea levels and floods.
President David Adeang aims to raise US$65 million (HK$505.4 million) to create a new town with farms and jobs in the island’s interior. Foreigners can buy a passport for about US$140,500 (HK$1.1 million), even if they never visit Nauru.
The passport gives them visa-free access to countries like the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong.
This initiative highlights the challenges small nations face in tackling climate change.
Nauru faces an increased risk of major floods that could impact its coastal cities and its only airport, which is near the ocean.
This concern was highlighted by Alexei Trundle from the Melbourne Centre for Cities, who is assisting Nauru in creating a vulnerability assessment report.
Answer: visa-free access to the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong