Pacific youth are calling for meaningful involvement in climate negotiations, respect for their red lines and climate support that reaches frontline communites.
Miliana Iga has ushered strong sentiments at the opening of the Pre-COP31 held at Nadi this morning.
“The Pacific is not a sacrifice zone and no price can capture the loss of our land, language and culture”, says Iga.
She said the Pacific’s 1.5 degrees Celsius target is a survival threshold, while warning that false solutions and activities such as deep-sea mining cannot be presented as answers to the climate crisis.
Iga said Pacific youth are ready to lead and are already developing solutions to address climate change, but they need to be included in existing systems of decision-making.
“Young people do not need separate systems. We need to be included and we want to be included in the systems that currently exist,” she said.
She also called on governments, negotiators and institutions to listen to frontline communities and recognise the knowledge and leadership they bring to climate discussions.
Iga said communities should not have to share their pain and experiences simply to be believed, particularly when many are already dealing with the impacts of climate change.
She urged leaders and chief negotiators attending Pre-COP31 to carry the stories and experiences shared in Fiji into the COP31 negotiations, saying the people and relationships behind the negotiating text must not be forgotten.
“The time to act is now, as in right now, not the future,” Iga said.
