STAND WITH TOSY: Support Tosy's call for climate action prior to COP26

TOSY’S STORY

Tosy is a young woman from the small Pacific Island nation of Kiribati. Tosy is in Australia temporarily and is very passionate about the issue of climate change.

Tosy is concerned for her future and the future of young people across the Pacific and throughout the world. Kiribati is one of the world’s least developed countries and Kiribati’s contribution to climate change and global warming is very small. Kiribati is very vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and could well become uninhabitable by 2050. Where will Tosy and her people go?

In preparation for ...

TOSY’S STORY

Tosy is a young woman from the small Pacific Island nation of Kiribati. Tosy is in Australia temporarily and is very passionate about the issue of climate change.

Tosy is concerned for her future and the future of young people across the Pacific and throughout the world. Kiribati is one of the world’s least developed countries and Kiribati’s contribution to climate change and global warming is very small. Kiribati is very vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and could well become uninhabitable by 2050. Where will Tosy and her people go?

In preparation for COP26, the annual United Nations Global Climate Conference in November this year, Tosy is writing to Australian leaders, including PM Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, to ask them to take urgent, strong climate action. Tosy is also asking everyone of us to support her call for action.

Tosy’s letter is copied further below. Please stand with Tosy and write your own letter on the right-hand side of the page. You can use your own words (recommended option) or the template letter we have provided. Your letter will be sent to Australian PM Scott Morrison, Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen and Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor.

Thank you for your support. We hope you share this initiative with your friends, family and networks.

Tosy's letter:

I am very proud of my beautiful culture and my identity as an I-Kiribati woman. I want my people to live safely and freely without worrying about their future.

My Home Island, Kiribati, and my people are at the frontline of experiencing and battling the adverse impacts of the climate crisis, an issue that we have made little contribution to.

Kiribati is a low-lying island nation that barely reaches two metres above sea level. Most of our islands have an ocean shoreline and coastal lagoon. There are no hills or streams. It is one of the most vulnerable nations in the world to the effects of climate change.

I am very concerned about our lives and our future as climate change has already threatened us in many ways.

One of the current effects of climate change is rising sea levels that we cannot run away from. This is already affecting us and our livelihoods in devastating ways and, according to the latest scientific projections, the current emissions path means that there will continue to be sea level rise long into the future.

Ahead of COP26, I urge wealthy and developed countries, such as Australia, to give us a helping hand by committing to a 75% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and developing a plan for how you will achieve that.

Australia has been a generous and good neighbour in supporting Kiribati in various ways. I have no doubt that you can do much better than that. So I ask for further ambitious action from the Australian Government to take urgent climate action to limit carbon emissions and keep temperatures to below 1.5C, as agreed under the Paris Agreement.

We risk losing our home, which is everything to us, and along with that, our sense of belonging and our identity as I-Kiribati people.

Australia has shown responsible leadership on a range of important global issues in the past. Please help my people and show responsible leadership on this issue now.

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Email Australian Leaders asking them to take urgent, strong climate action before COP26

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Dear Mssrs Morrison, Albanese, Taylor and Bowen

I write to ask you to help Pacific Islander communities in the face of devastating climate impacts.

Pacific Islander peoples are at the frontline of experiencing and battling the adverse impacts of the climate crisis, an issue that they have made little contribution to.

One of the current effects of climate change is rising sea levels that they cannot run away from. This is already affecting many Pacific Islander communities in devastating ways and, according to the latest scientific projections, the current emissions path means that there will continue to be sea level rise long into the future.

Ahead of COP26, I urge wealthy and developed countries, such as Australia, to give the Pacific a helping hand by announcing a 75% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and developing a plan for how you will achieve that.

I also urge Australia to announce a significant commitment to increasing its contribution to climate finance for adaptation purposes. The Pacific needs urgent help now to adapt to the devastating coastline erosion and storm surges it is already experiencing.

This is a matter of compassion.  It is also a question of justice.

If we don't do what is required, scientific projections indicate that entire nations could become uninhabitable by mid-century, destroying entire cultures and ways of life. Where will the people go?                      
         
Australia has shown exceptional leadership on a range of important global issues in the past.  Now is the time to do it again.  History will remember us for it and our children and grand-children will thank us and remember our courage.

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