This Tiny Island Has a 'Golden Passport' Waiting for You

Nearly 12,500 people live on the Micronesian island of Nauru, the world's third smallest nation, but thanks to global warming, those folks need to move to higher ground—and they're hoping a new "golden passport" program convincing foreigners to obtain citizenship there will help. Interested parties will simply need to fork over six figures, which will be used to help Nauru—battling increasing sea level rise, coastal erosion, and storm surges exacerbated by climate change—move its residents to a safer new community on the low-lying island.

• Details: The special Nauru passport will cost at least $105,000, per CNN, though Forbes suggests a minimum of $130,000, going all the way up to $145,000 for a family of five or more. Citizenship won't be up for grabs for people with certain criminal backgrounds, or for those from what the UN has deemed to be high-risk nations, like Russia or North Korea.

• History: Nauru had been decimated for almost 100 years by phosphate mining, "leaving the center of the island a near barren landscape of jagged rocks" and four-fifths of the country unlivable, per CNN. That means that those who fled the center have since congregated along the coasts, which are in the most danger from the rising Pacific. "A lot of people residing on the coast have already lost land—some have had their entire houses engulfed by king tides and they have lost everything," Tyrone Deiye, a Nauru national and student at Australia's Monash Business School, says in a statement.
• $$$: Nauru expects to take in about $5.6 million in its first year running the golden passport program, eventually ramping up to more than $40 million annually, "as we assess for any unintended consequences or negative impact," Edward Clark, head of the Nauru Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Program, tells CNN.
• Controversy: Golden passports are often given the side-eye, with detractors complaining of the potential for criminals to exploit the system; increased real-estate prices; and the bypassing of language proficiency and residency requirements typically required of people living in a place. Nauru's own previous golden visa program ended up getting shuttered in 2003 when al-Qaeda operatives tapped into it.
• Optimism: Advocates of the program, however, say it will inject much-needed funds into the struggling island. "While the world debates climate action, we must take proactive steps to secure our nation's future," Nauru President David Adeang tells CNN.

(More Nauru stories.)