Kimberly Tetabwa Tokanang*
"Mauri, I’m an island girl from Kiribati, trying to be compelling with beautiful and clever words so you’ll read what I have to say. That the desperate hunger of my story and our fears for our survival will encourage you to act.
I am one of a population of over 130,000 people in Kiribati which is made up of 33 coral islands divided among three island groups. We have a landmass of 811 sq km that sits within an exclusive economic zone of over 3 million sq km within our Pacific Islands region.
Most of our atolls are barely more than three metres above sea level – a symbol of our relationship with our ocean. Our greatest resource as a Pacific Islander can also be our greatest threat when prodded by climate change.
I know there are many that have never seen or touched the ocean, but for me it is different. Living on a small island state in the world’s biggest ocean sees it running through my veins, breathing life into my history, culture, and identity.
I don’t say that lightly, as our ocean is the biggest lungs of our planet producing half of Earth’s oxygen and consumes more than 25 percent of the carbon dioxide across the world.
But at what point will the ocean tell us that enough is enough? That these mighty blue lungs can no longer store any more carbon dioxide? And why do we continue to push these limits and at what point will our species collectively agree to heed these calls?
Our ocean is also the driver of climate and weather impacts, and the threats that science tells us will come our way, is scary. If we don’t care for our ocean and help cool her down, she can and will turn on us.
Our Marawa, our seas, not only provides us our food, but also reflects, Karawa, our skies, thus becoming our literal navigation guide. The rising sea level and the rising temperatures threaten our traditions of fishing and navigation practices. The ocean that breathes life into my history, my present, and my future, is under threat with your actions.
And this is where my story turns to a call for action. Ngkana ko berita, kakoroa bukina!
The Paris Agreement is a commitment by over 190 signatories, governments if you will, to make changes to limit the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius to 1.5 degrees. We still have time to make this happen.
As we say – 1.5 to stay alive. This means that everyone, everywhere should have started already to make changes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, burning fewer fossil fuels to create less carbon dioxide. If we don’t do more, our chances for survive become smaller.
The impact upon our ocean will be devastating for not just for us in Kirbati, and the Pacific, but also for you, wherever you are. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, sea levels are expected to rise by 2100 to a height which will cover more than 50 percent of the land in Tarawa, threatening over 60 percent of our islands population. We are vulnerable to increased risks of frequent and severe flooding, accelerated coastal erosion threatening biodiversity and infrastructure, and internal displacement, which will place significant socioeconomic burdens on affected communities and societies.
We are feeling the impacts of climate change now with saltwater intrusion in our wells, drought season getting longer and less rainfall, making it hard for us, especially those with disabilities, to access fresh water. Ironically water is life and yet we’re having that life slowly taken away from us, drip by drip.
To you this may seem irrelevant, being so far away, not fully seeing your actions of delaying actions to keep us at 1.5 -especially now that we are OVER 1.5. We feel and we live the impacts, here all the way on my home island, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in Kiribati.
We are seeing the impacts of climate change now, in different ways, forced cruelly upon us.
To the delegates at the 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Baku, Azerbaijan, I hope you take the time to know us, and our stories. That we are more than words on a paper trying to impress you, we are a cornerstone of all humanity. That my people are relying on you to stay true to your signed commitments under the Paris Agreement. Kakoroa nanon ami berita!
Do not force our ocean, our source of life - the ocean that carried my ancestors in their canoes to our islands, the same very ocean that feeds my family and is the lifeblood through my veins – to become the ocean that wash us away - because of YOUR actions NOW. Kiribati contributes a mere 0.001% of the global emission, yet we are on the frontlines of the severe impacts of climate change.
So, I ask you, as a girl from Kiribati, worried for the future of my family, my people, our Pacific, our planet, that you be strong, move fast, stand true to your commitment and make 1.5 happen for us all to stay alive. Time is of the essence and we need you to act NOW.
Thank you for your time. Ara bau ma ngkami Te Mauri Te Raoi ao Te Tabomoa (May health, peace, and prosperity upon us all)"
*Raised in Kiribati, Kimberly is Miss Kiribati 2024. Aged 25, she works at an NGO in Kiribati for persons with disabilities called Te Toa Matoa. She also proudly volunteers at the first youth-led NGO Tungaru Youth Action.