Email Your MP the IPCC Joint Statement | Our Islands Our Home

Email Your MP the IPCC Joint Statement

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Urge your MP to take action for the Torres Strait.

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The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report shows that climate damage is already occurring in the Torres Strait, and these impacts are predicted to intensify.

As a local constituent, I support the joint statement on climate change in the Torres Strait which you can read below. Will you show your support to protect the Torres Strait from climate change by sharing the joint statement on social media and endorsing the demands in parliament?

You can download an image of the joint statement to share on social media here:  https://ourislandsourhome.com.au/joint-statement/

JOINT STATEMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE TORRES STRAIT BY TRADITIONAL OWNERS AND CLIMATE SCIENTISTS

"Torres Strait Islanders are on the frontline of the climate crisis. As Torres Strait Islander leaders and Australian climate scientists, we urge all politicians to take immediate action to protect the Torres Strait from the impacts of climate change.

According to Yessie Mosby, Torres Strait 8 claimant and Masigilgal Traditional Owner, “erosion and sea level rise is affecting our island home (Masig). We are picking up our ancestors' bones as if they are shells, due to inundation of our burial grounds.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has just released its Sixth Assessment Report: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. The report shows Torres Strait Island communities are already experiencing increased flood risk and water insecurity. Sea level rise has also undermined traditional coastal lands, including through the destruction of ancestral burial grounds. These impacts are predicted to intensify as low-lying islands of the Torres Strait face more frequent coastal flooding in coming decades (before mid-century).

Kabay Tamu, Torres Strait 8 claimant and Warraberalgal Traditional Owner, agrees climate impacts are already being experienced in the Torres Strait, “we watch the steady erosion of our coastlines, we witness our communities being inundated, infrastructure damaged, sea walls and flood defences breached, fresh water wells contaminated and plants and crops spoiled. Rising sea temperatures are also affecting the marine environments we rely on. We are witnessing more coral bleaching and ocean acidification, damaging the reefs and marine life that are vital for the ecosystem.”

Urgent action is needed to ensure Torres Strait Islanders can remain on their islands. We call on all politicians to:

1. Fund adaptation programs that will allow Torres Strait communities to adapt to climate impacts
2. Support Torres Strait communities to build community-owned renewable energy
3. Commit to going 100% renewables in Australia in the next 10 years
4. Transition away from fossil fuels as rapidly as possible through a just transition for workers
5. Push the world to increase global ambition and do everything possible to limit warming to 1.5 degrees"

Signed:

Ned David, Chair, Gur A Baradharaw Kod Torres Strait Sea and Land Council
Torres Strait 8 claimants
Yessie Mosby, Masigilgal Traditional Owner
Daniel Billy, Warraberalgal Traditional Owner 
Kabay Tamu, Warraberalgal Traditional Owner
Stanley Marama, Boigulgal Traditional Owner
Keith Pabai, Boigulgal Traditional Owner
Nazareth Fauid, Porumalgal Traditional Owner
Ted Billy, Warraberalgal Traditional Owner
Professor Ian McNiven, Monash University
Professor Lesley Hughes, Distinguished Professor of Biology, Macquarie University and Councillor with the Climate Council of Australia
Emeritus Prof. Bruce Thom, Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists
Professor Jon Barnett, Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow in the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Melbourne University
Doctor Simon Bradshaw, Research Director, Climate Council

Authorised by Lucy Manne, 350.org Limited, Suite 201, 46-56 Kippax St, Surry Hills NSW 2010

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