An Australian church delegation is visiting the Pacific island nation of Kiribati in mid-October to strategise on how to communicate the plight of the Pacific at the UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen in December.
The delegation is being led by Good Samaritan Sister Geraldine Kearney (pictured) and is part of the efforts of the Pacific Calling Partnership.
"We want to listen to calls from our low lying island neighbours in the Torres Strait and the Pacific about the serious threat that climate change poses to them," Sr Geraldine said before leaving on October 7. "From this, we seek to raise awareness of Australia's ecological debt to these peoples."
Made up of low-lying coral atolls, Kiribati is one of the nations most affected by the sea encroachments attributable to climate change.
"The I-Kiribati and many other peoples in low-lying islands make minimal impact in causing rising sea levels but are asked by the rest of the world to pay the maximum price," said Edmund Rice Centre director Phil Glendenning (pictured) who also is a delegation member.
"The future of Kiribati is at stake," he said. "We need to ensure that people like the I-Kiribati are not excluded from the climate change debate.
"The world must listen
"By going to Kiribati we begin this process by beginning with ourselves."
This is the second time a Pacific Calling Partnership (PCP) group has visited Kiribati. A similar process was undertaken in October 2007 ahead of the Bali UN Climate Change Summit.
That group was able to assist in ensuring that a delegation was sent to the UN Bali summit with inclusion of representatives from the Torres Strait Islands, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea's Cataret Islands as well as Australia.
Conducted under PCP's Leadership Skills Exchange Program, the 2009 visit involves 16 people from church-based PCP member organisations in NSW. The group returns to Sydney on Friday, October 16.
While in Kiribati, the group will meet with President Anote Tong, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tessie Lambourne, government officials from the Kiribati Adaptation Program, and Australia's High Commissioner to Kiribati Brett Aldam.
At the grass-roots level, ideas will be exchanged with church leaders, members of religious orders, education officials, school students and teachers from primary and secondary schools.
The highlight of the trip was expected to be when members of the Leadership Skills Exchange Program join with I-Kiribati climate activists to make preparations for taking their message to the world at Copenhagen.
"All of this follows up the work already commenced as a result of our very successful participation as official observers at the UNFCCC in Bali in 2007," Sr Geraldine said. "Our participation at Bali in 2007 certainly put us on the global map.
"In 2008 and 2009 we worked extensively on our home fronts and consolidated our home projects and programs and instituted a Pacific Outreach program among Pacific Islanders resident in Australia." she said.
The project will be filmed for a documentary aimed at educating Australians and I-Kiribati in the effects of climate change in their own localities.
Goals of Pacific Calling Partnership Leadership Skills Exchange to Kiribati:
- create an opportunity for delegates from Australia to dialogue with people from Kiribati on the impact of climate change on their respective countries
- raise the awareness of all involved about the global and local issue of climate change
- develop the leadership skills of the participants so that they will be able to exercise greater leadership in the community
- generate positive relations, understanding and cross-cultural exchange between Australia and Kiribati
- contribute to the PCP preparations for attending the UNFCCC conference in Copenhagen in December 2009
- create greater awareness of the imminent and long-term effects of climate change
- create greater understanding of the cultural and environmental backgrounds of each country
- build improved networks and connections between the people from the two countries
- develop leadership skills of Kiribati youth
- empower Kiribati youth to actively participate in decision making processes
- create greater links between education systems in Kiribati and Australia.
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