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Climate Change Climate Change

and what we worry about before going back to sleep.” has been giving us a lot of aid,” Miriam Moriati said. “But I
As president of the Rotaract Youth Club in Kiribati, Moriati also have to state the fact that it can do so, so much more!
said it was important for young people to grapple with the Australia goes around saying it is our neighbour, our friend.
reality of climate change. She cited another i-Kiribati girl who So as a friend, we’re asking Australia to stop contributing to
said: “I did not know what climate change was, until my home climate change emissions.”
was hit by the ocean.” Highlighting the shift to renewables in her nation, she said:
She said her own family could see changes in the “We’re not just speaking about climate change; we’re also
environment that sustains them. doing our part in Kiribati. The Pacific contributes nothing
“Our groundwater is brackish, but our well is dried up to climate change, because we do our part. We hope that
because of excessive heat,” she explained. “My mother and Australia and other major countries will see our efforts, and
I have to walk with buckets to buy water from a nearby do their part as well.”
desalination plant, which costs three dollars for one bucket. During their tour, the Pacific activists visited the New South
We have to pay to drink.” Wales harbour city of Newcastle—the largest port for coal
In response, Moriati has mobilised young people to engage export in Australia—as well as the national capital Canberra to
in practical community initiatives on climate resilience: “We hold discussions with political leaders.
organise coral restoration, beach cleanups to pick up tonnes Tuvalu’s O’Brien raised concern that “Australia is opening
of rubbish and get young people to plant mangroves in areas new mines, its coalfields are expanding and they are not
suffering erosion.” Her Rotaract youth club has planted a pushing enough financing for the climate crisis.
network of mangroves spelling out “1.5 to stay alive”. “What about loss and damage?” he asked. “Has there been
“Although they look so ugly, mangroves have a huge role to any compensation to the islands that are already suffering?
play,” she said. “The roots hold our beach firmly and protect After COP28, the youth went home and were happy because
our coastal areas, as well as providing a healthy environment leaders had created a Fund for Loss and Damage in low-lying
for our marine species. Our elders have used them for countries, vulnerable countries such as Tuvalu. But up until
medicine, and for making our dance costumes – they’re part now, where is the money?”
of our identity.” There are significant climate pledges in the new Tuvalu-
Australia Falepili Union, which Australia’s Minister for the
From the global to the local Pacific Pat Conroy has described as “the most significant
As the youth delegation comes to the end of their tour of agreement between Australia and one of its Pacific partners
Australia, international delegates are gathering in Azerbaijan since the agreements for PNG’s independence in 1975.”
for the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) under the Listening to the youth delegates from Tuvalu, however, it’s
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. clear that many young people have a different vision of the
With newly victorious US President-elect Donald Trump agreement. O’Brien acknowledged the new treaty between
threatening to again withdraw from the Paris Agreement on Australia and his homeland, but suggested that it couldn’t
Climate Change, major industrialised nations have repeatedly replace the need for more rapid action on climate emissions.
failed to meet their commitments on emissions reductions and “For us, it’s a sort of plan for relocating people from
climate finance. Tuvalu to move to Australia if the worst scenario comes,” he
Last year in the United Arab Emirates, the President of said. “But our concern is, we’re not trying to relocate. To
COP28 was Sultan Al-Jaber, Chair of the Abu Dhabi National disconnect people from the land that belongs to them is not
Oil Company (Adnoc). This year, COP29 host Ilham Aliyev, the a plan. We don’t want to live on other people’s land because
President of Azerbaijan, told the official opening that oil and it’s not our identity, because your land is your identity.”
gas—crucial exports for his nation—are a “gift of God”. There O’Brien explained why he was willing to travel around
is growing civil society concern that the leadership of the Australia for six weeks to share his message: “Whose future
annual COPs has been captured by nations committed to fossil is it that I’m fighting for? It’s the kids, it’s my children, the
fuel exports (no small matter for Australia, which is seeking next generation that will follow the footsteps that I’m taking
support from Forum Island Countries to host COP31 in 2026, today. If we do not advocate and if we do not fight for what
even as it expands coal, oil and gas projects). is right, we will face the worst-case scenario of submerging.
In Baku, Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy We don’t want our kids to relocate and find a home in another
Chris Bowen will co-chair crucial negotiations on climate place that they don’t call home.
finance. After industrialised nations failed to meet their “That’s why we’re here – to ask for collaboration,” he
annual target of US$100 billion in climate finance by 2020, added. “We have little resources, little funds, but we have
COP29 is required to negotiate an even higher target for solutions and we are trying to live in our country and fight
payments to start in 2025. against what’s coming up against us.”
Talking with Australian activists, the Pacific youth delegates As young people around the region are fond of saying:
diplomatically called for more ambition from the host nation. “We’re not drowning – we’re fighting!”
“Australia has been Kiribati’s long-standing partner and

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