Who is he?

Juriaan Booij is a Dutch born – London based filmmaker. He directed the documentary entitled King Tide in 2007. King Tide gives local insight on the daily life of the people of Tuvalu; it also makes the case for their struggle with environmental issues and fear for their imminent evacuation. King Tide amplifies the urge for immediate realization of what really is at stake in Tuvalu as the nation is most likely about to become the first to sink below the ocean making the Tuvaluans the first entire people entitled to be climate refugees. Juriaan Booij insists upon the grave dangers for the nation’s culture and identity as they will be severely damaged by a climate induced migration.

Did we speak with him?

Yes

Profession:

Filmmaker

Nationality:

Dutch

Important work on Tuvalu:

Click here to discover Juriaan Booij’s website and work on King Tide

How did he get involved in Tuvalu?

Juriaan Booij, flew straight to Tuvalu as soon as he got the opportunity to pay for the documentary. In fact, he had read about the Island a couple of years prior to the film in a special issue of National Geographic. There, he met we the inhabitants, members of the government as well as with Ian Fry, the Australian climate activist working as the international environmental officer for the government of Tuvalu since 2001. His account is therefore strongly rooted in the local aspect of the controversy.

His take on the controversy:

The sinking of Tuvalu is undeniable although scientists are still fighting over why it is so.  Because it is such a small country it is being ignored and the lessons for the future are not being learned. Also what matters the most for the Tuvaluans is that they stick together to safeguard their culture and identity but it is more likely they will not be able to.