Written by Mandy Bridenhagen, Consultant
While evidence of climate change exists all around us, the impacts are sometimes indirect and hard for us to comprehend. We may not notice the effects of in our backyard or even in our city, but thousands of miles away in Papua New Guinea, a community will watch their island and hundreds of years of culture disappear into the ocean.
The Carteret Islands, located in Papua New Guinea, are disappearing due to climate change-related sea-level rise. These islands are currently home to over 3,000 people who are soon to become some of the world’s first climate refugees, forced to abandon their homes, livelihoods, and traditions.
This won’t be a singular event. Throughout the Pacific Islands communities are preparing to relocate to nearby, larger islands, as well as places like Japan, Australia, and New Zealand as higher sea-levels destroy the soil for growing crops and eventually submerging entire coral atoll islands.
Recognizing the immediate need for action, Greengrants’ Pacific Advisory Board recommended a $6,700 grant to Tulele Peisa Incorporated in 2007 to help the organization assist Carteret Islanders affected by climate change with relocation efforts and sustainable development projects. Since the time of the grant, Tulele Peisa has been instrumental in raising global awareness about the fate of the islands, the islanders, and global climate change. Ursula Rakova, Chief Executive Officer of Tulele Peisa, has helped make films about the plight of the islanders, including the recent documentary Sun Come Up that premiered at the Media that Matters Film Festival in New York City in June. To watch the trailer on the Sun Come Up webpage, click here.
Forced to move to the bigger, mainland island Bougainville, the Carteret Islanders will lose their cultural traditions and livelihoods. In this matriarchal society, land is owned by women and has traditionally been passed down from mother to daughter for generations—a tradition that will cease when they leave their homeland. While the communities on Bougainville recognize the need to share land and resources with the Carteret refugees, it is easier said than done. The government has been slow and unresponsive in addressing the housing needs of the displaced. Thanks to Ursula and Tulele Peisa, construction is now beginning to happen, and some families have been able to relocate.
Earlier this month, the 40th meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum was held in Cairns, Australia. Leaders of the Pacific countries identified climate change as a security threat and called on the rest of the world to set carbon emissions reductions targets and firm goals in anticipation of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December. As representatives from countries around the world enter into climate discussions at this landmark conference, the issues of the people on the frontlines of climate change must be recognized: this is not just about climate change, but about climate justice.
To find out more about Ursula and Tulele Peisa Inc.’s mission, watch this video, produced by Oxfam and narrated by Ursula.
For a recent article on the Carteret Islanders and climate justice, click here.