Rob Gell, who is a spokesman for Greening Australia, helped launch an exhibition at Melbourne’s Immigration Museum.
He said it is an attempt to educate people about the plight of the around 10,000 people still living in Tuvalu.
But Gell said the Tuvaluans also want a broader discussion.
He said while they see themselves as the canaries in the coal mine, they want the industrialized nations to acknowledge their role in causing global warming.
“They are wanting us to understand that bigger issue. So they are really putting their arms out and saying, listen you people, you need to understand this global issue. We are the ones that are impacted first, it is not our fault but there are people all around the world going to be impacted by this and we don’t think you are doing enough to deal with the problem,” Bell told Radio New Zealand International.
