National compliance action strategy to implement the Montreal protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer in Tuvalu

Abstract

Tuvalu is comprised of nine small islands, six of them being atoll islands (with lagoons) namely Nanumea, Nui, Vaitupu, Nukufetau, Funafuti, and Nukulaelae. The remaining three, Nanumanga, Niutao and Niulakita are raised limestone reef islands. None of the islands are more than three metres above sea level, with the biggest island, Vaitupu, having a land area of just over 1000 acres. The total land area is approximately twenty-six square kilometres with a sea area of 900,000 square kilometres. During the pre-independence period, 1938 - 1978, Tuvalu was a British Colony called the "Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (GEIC). The islands are located between latitudes 5 degrees and 11 degrees south of the equator and between longitudes 176 degrees and 179 degrees east of Greenwich. To the north, about 1400 km is the Republic of Kiribati and to the south, 1100 km is the Republic of Fiji.