People on the frontline of climate change - Carteret Islanders speaking tour

The tour has now finished, but we will shortly be updating this section with an evaluation, photos of the tour and further links to information about the Carteret Islands. 

A partnership between Tulele Peisa Incorporated ("Sailing the waves"), Friends of the Earth Australia and Oxfam Australia

local partners: Aid/watch, Mineral Policy Institute, Sisters of Mercy

10-20 September 2007

Brisbane, Sydney, Newcastle, Canberra, Melbourne.

The Carteret Islanders are amongst the world's first 'environmental refugees'. An entire cultural group is facing relocation due to the impacts of climate change. The islanders have fought for more than twenty years against the rising ocean, building sea walls and planting mangroves. However, storm surges and high tides continue to wash away homes, destroy vegetable gardens, and contaminate fresh water supplies. On November 24, 2005, the Papua New Guinean government authorised the evacuation of the islands, 10 families at a time, to Bougainville. The evacuation started in early 2007 and this could continue up until 2020, depending on how inhabited the islands remain. However, it has also been estimated that by 2015, the Carteret Islands could be largely submerged and entirely uninhabitable.

This situation is but one example of the impacts being felt in our region. It highlights the need for rich countries like Australia to stop harming, by significantly reducing their emissions, and start helping, by supporting adaptation and resilience building in climate affected communities.

The tour will feature Ms Ursula Rakova from the NGO Tulele Peisa and Mr Bernard Tunim from Piul Island in the Carterets who will talk about their personal experiences of climate change.

There will be public meetings and a series of roundtable forums held in each city, and media opportunities with television, radio and print media (see below for schedule).

The Carteret Islands

The Carteret Islands (also known as Carteret Atoll, Tulun or Kilinailau Islands/Atoll), are part of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and located 120 kilometres northeast of Bougainville in the Pacific Ocean.

The Carterets are a scattering of low lying islands in a horseshoe shape stretching roughly 30 kilometres in a north-south direction, with a total land area of 0.6 square kilometres and a maximum elevation of 1.2 metres above sea level. All of the islands are on the edge of the lagoon and the population of the Carterets is about 2,500 people. Han is the largest island, with a population of about 1,000. All of the islands have tree cover, except where small clearings have been made for crop gardens.

Impacts of climate change

Salt water intrusion is becoming a growing problem and appears to be a result of climate change induced sea-level rise mixed with the natural variation in elevation of atolls. This natural movement or variation in islands exacerbates the vulnerability of the Carterets to the climate change impacts of sea-level rise because it allows salt water intrusion during times of storm surge behind houses and gardens.

Relocation

The Papua New Guinean government has provided some funds for the relocation, but poor relations between the PNG and the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) could hamper sufficient government resourcing for the relocation. The ABG has secured a plantation to relocate the Carteret Islanders on, however there is no basic infrastructure on this land, and significant work on developing infrastructure, with sufficient resources, needs to be carried out to ensure that the Carteret Islanders can live there.

There are also significant cultural issues in relocating an entire people from atolls to the mainland where different food, livelihood and living conditions will affect the identity of the people. Tulele Peisa is one of the few NGOs working with the Carteret communities, planning, fund raising and advocating for the development of a culturally sensitive relocation to Bougainville. It was established specifically to co-ordinate the relocation of the islanders.

This tour aims to

• Raise awareness amongst key stakeholders in Australian society about the plight of Carteret Islanders and others to the impacts of climate change

• Raise awareness of, and resources for, the culturally sensitive relocation of the Carteret Islanders to mainland Bougainville.

• Raise awareness in Australia of the reality of human displacement due to climate change and the need to respond accordingly in terms of appropriate mitigation (reducing our greenhouse gas emissions) and support for adaptation measures in affected communities.

locations

These public forums are all free events

Sydney

public forum: friday September 14 – 6pm - 7.30pm

Brown Street Community Hall
8-10 Brown Street (behind Newtown library)
Newtown 

local hosts: Aid/watch, Mineral Policy Institute, Greens senator Kerry Nettle

Contact: Flint Duxfield, Aid/Watch: 02 9557 8944, 0448 646 559

aidwatch@aidwatch.org.au

Newcastle

public forum: saturday September 15, 1pm

Newcastle room, Newcastle Town Hall

local host: Rising Tide

Further information - steve@risingtide.org.au

Canberra

public forum: monday September 17, 6.30- 8 pm

Johnson Auditorium, Pilgrim House Conference Centre, 69 Northbourne Avenue, Civic

Hosted by Australian Ethical: http://www.austethical.com.au/

contact: Cam Walker cam.walker@foe.org.au

Melbourne

public forum: wednesday September 19, 6.30pm - 8.30pm

Fitzroy Town Hall, Napier street, Fitzroy

Hosts: FoE, Oxfam

for further details, contact: Cam Walker cam.walker@foe.org.au

Brisbane

Friday 21st September
6:30pm
St Mary’s Church
20 Merivale Street
South Brisbane

Presented by: Friends of the Earth, the Sisters of Mercy and Oxfam Australia.

Contact Emma Brindal, Emma.brindal@foe.org.au, 0411 084 727

You can download an audio recording of their public forum in Melbourne here.

You can see a short video on the islands here.

You can find photos from the tour here.

For media enquiries, please contact Melany Markham, Oxfam Australia, Melanym@oxfam.org.au

0407 515 559

For further information or to get involved, contact Cam Walker, FoE Australia, in Melbourne: 03 9419 8700, cam.walker@foe.org.au or Charlotte Sterrett, Oxfam Australia, in Melbourne: 03 9289 9474, charlottes@oxfam.org.au

For further information on the Carteret Islands, see: http://web.mac.com/pipstarr/iWeb/starr.tv/starr.tv.html