‘The Coral Parliament’ proposes a framework where Corals and Humans discuss common concerns and come up with policies in the benefit of all of Tuvalu’s inhabitants. The Parliament was established to envision alternative forms of inhabitation and urbanism that care for humans and non-humans, and challenge the conventional hierarchical relations between humans and non-humans to ensure the rights of Corals. Faced with imminent submergence, Tuvalu must consider the question of what and how to preserve. As we understand Tuvalu’s social structure as a Coral Urbanism, where humans are just one of the ‘actors’ or inhabitants who also rely immensely on the reef ecology, the project highlights the need to recognize, recover, and care for the coral colonies in Tuvalu, as its living entities not only constitute archives of Tuvaluan traditions, ecosocial practices, and knowledge, but are also fundamental to the preservation of its physical landmass and national sovereignty. The main embodiment of the “parliament” is proposed as an extension structure, with a series of interventions, reaching out from a patch reef 500 meters from Fongafale. This extension serves multiple purposes: habitat for corals, coral data collection, gene bank, and spaces for various stakeholders to engage with and understand the corals. Over time, as sea levels rise to a point that may ultimately engulf the sandy lands of Tuvalu and displace its people, the structure would become solely occupied by corals and marine life. It would then act as a demarcation of Coral sovereignty at Tuvalu, maintaining land ownership for its inhabitants: the coral reefs, marine life, and Tuvaluans.
