As the island nation of Tuvalu grapples with climate change, scientists have warned that at the current rate of global sea level rise, the entire country will be submerged by 2050.

As the ocean closes in, Tuvalu is fighting against the question of 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 as 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.

And so, Tuvalu has embarked on a quest to become to the first “digital nation” in a bid to retain its sovereignty.

Per the government of Tuvalu: This digital transformation process will allow Tuvalu to remain a functioning country even after its physical land is no more. The first step in this process is the digitization of Tuvalu's land, which will serve as a crucial component in its legal fight for a revised definition of territorial sovereignty under international law. The Digital Nation is both a plan for survival, and a provocation designed to drive urgent conversation around climate action and climate mitigation.

Worth noting for marketers: The campaign had a reported $0 media budget however the project’s launch reached 2.1 billion people and was covered by 359 global publications, including The New York Times and The Guardian, and trended on TikTok and Twitter.