11,000 People With No Place to Go... Yet

Legal experts are debating what to do with the people of Tuvalu, a Polynesian island state which will be underwater in 50 years if the globe keeps warming. Many residents have found homes in New Zealand but others have met resistance in Australia, where immigration is an election issue. International law has no provisions for so-called “climate refugees," Der Spiegel reports. 

Tuvalu is putting political pressure on the UN, but is stuck in the shadow of Darfur's humanitarian crisis. Luckily, lawyers say, the idea of claiming damages for environmental problems is gaining ground in the West. And a photographer is furthering the cause by getting shots of Tuvalu's 11,000 people, hoping to put a human face on their plight. (More climate change stories.)