In the lead up to this month’s COP31 United Nations Climate Summit in Türkiye, Oxfam joined communities from across the Pacific at Pre-COP in Fiji to advocate for funding for communities impacted by climate change and for governments to make big polluting corporations pay for the climate damage they have caused.
This year’s climate negotiations are special because Australia is President of Negotiations and is playing a critical leadership role. With this in mind, Oxfam has ramped up our advocacy and campaign work, seeking strong outcomes for the communities we work with.
The Pre-COP week opened with Torres Strait Elders Uncle Paul and Uncle Pabai joining leaders from Fiji and Tuvalu to blow their conch shells on the beach in a traditional call to come together. Watch this beautiful video.
Oxfam also launched our new report, Deepening Disasters, highlighting that the number of people impacted by climate disasters in small island nations and low-income countries has doubled in the past two decades.
Returning from Pre-COP, Oxfam hosted political and community leaders from Tuvalu, the Pacific, Indonesia, the Philippines and the Torres Strait in Canberra for a huge week of action calling for justice for communities severely impacted by climate change.
Tuvalu Climate Change Minister Maina Talia spoke powerfully to the media and members of parliament and gave the keynote address at the Australian Council for International Development national development conference.
"We have seen the dramatic changes in the physical appearance of Tuvalu: soil erosion, the increase of heat, tuna stocks moving away,” Minister Talia said. “There are a lot of complex issues to do with climate change that impact the livelihoods of people living in low lying atolls. We want to see Australia putting a stop to opening new coal mines and gas because that will definitely impact the lives of those living in low lying atolls.”
Meanwhile, after a passionate plea from Aunty McRose, Australia’s Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen committed to visiting the Torres Strait next year.
“The Torres Strait is being forgotten,” Aunty McRose said. “In a few decades our islands will be underwater due to climate change. We are cultural and spiritual people. These islands are our god given home and we will go down with them. Minister, come to our islands. See for yourself what we face. Help us.”
Fiji: Oxfam staff and partners gather to call for climate action. Photo: Oxfam
In a big win, Oxfam’s advocacy to secure funding for Nepal from the UN’s Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage was successful. The Australian Government and members of the Fund’s board agreed to allocate USD $20 million, the maximum allocation at this time.
Oxfam’s work in Türkiye for the COP31 negotiations focuses on holding the Australian Government to account for progressing the transition away from fossil fuels, and for providing its fair share of climate funding to low-income countries to enable them to respond to climate change.
If you agree that everyday people in our region shouldn’t be suffering from a problem they didn’t cause, while big coal, oil and gas corporations make billions from products that drive the climate change crisis, then help us spread the word.
Please sign and share our petition.