I will not go down without a fight for climate justice

I grew up on one of the remote islands in the Solomon Islands.

I’ve learned a lot from my aunties and uncles about the value you can add to the land, the environment, and the value it adds to you. So it’s a relationship.

I have heard stories from my grandparents about how our people came to be. A big part of the story portrays a spiritual connection between our people, the land, and the ocean.

I learned to value the environment that I lived in and I remember enjoying being outdoors. The outdoors was a classroom for me and every other child in the Solomon Islands.

Interacting with nature was where we learned about which plants were edible and which ones were not. How to tell if bad weather is coming and what to do during bad storms.

Transport to our remote island has always been a huge issue. When we’d go to school, we had to cross the ocean to get to the classes on the other island. When we finished classes, we were either in the ocean or in the gardens helping our community. That is how we learn about our culture as well.

In the Solomon Islands, our communities are very much about intergenerational learning – learning from our elders.

Over the years I have seen first-hand how climate change has undermined this intergenerational learning.

Due to unpredictable frequent rainfalls, trips to the garden have been reduced for safety reasons.

In 2014 I witnessed my country go into a state of emergency after heavy rainfalls which caused a devastating flood that resulted in the loss of lives.

After devastating events such as the 2014 floods, we are the ones who have to pick ourselves up and move on with life again.

Each time we pick ourselves up, there is another “natural disaster” that knocks us down again.

We contribute almost nothing to this crisis, yet we pay the highest price. A price we cannot afford yet we are forced to pay. Where is the justice in that? Frontline communities like mine are already struggling to make ends meet and now also pay the price for the benefit of big emitters.

These experiences move one to act. Some people have the luxury to choose whether to campaign for climate justice or pursue their dreams. My people are at the frontline of this climate crisis. We do not have the luxury of a choice.

I fight so that my people and their children will live in dignity without fear of climate change denying them that right.

In 2019, I was one of 27 youth activists and law students who formed the PISFCC (Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change) – a campaign to persuade the leaders of the Pacific Island Forum to take the issue of climate change and human rights to the International Court of Justice.

At the start of our activism, I remember being very scared of the outside world. Will they listen to us from small islands that are so far from those responsible?

I remember speaking to someone from Spain and they asked me where the Solomon Islands are. I tried to show them on the map but I couldn’t even find it. We are only a dot on the map.

But we were very determined. If we don’t do anything now, then who will? There are no risks or challenges that outweigh the consequences if we do not fight.

Even reading the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report feels unreal, like you’re reading about your fate but the ones responsible do not care enough to address the root cause.

I will not go down without a fight for climate justice.

At the start of the campaign, some of our people at the start that discouraged us from pursuing the climate justice advisory opinion campaign and not believing in the fight because they felt hopeless. That is why the climate justice fight and every tool we can use is important because it is about hope for our people that a better future is possible.

Our legal campaign to the International Court of Justice is about hope, and the Make Rich Polluters Pay Campaign is too; hope that climate justice is possible. That our people who need it the most will get the support they deserve, especially from those who benefit most from this.

These two worthy campaigns are linked and they seek to put humans at the centre of climate action. Together we can start a conversation and discussion around accountability to existing responsibilities and obligations. For too long the international community especially those causing this crisis behaved as if they do not have responsibilities and obligations to the present and future generations.

I will not sit back and watch as the future of my present generation and generations yet to come is being destroyed.

Science is on our side, we know the cause and those responsible, let’s make noise and teach our present and future generations about being accountable for one’s actions. I believe in a world where those at the frontline can deal with the adverse effects, and the Make Rich Polluters Pay campaign can deliver that.