Amplifying voices for climate justice from the Asia-Pacific region
On Tuesday, KAIROS co-hosted the webinar Churches’ Advocacy on Loss and Damage. In case you missed it, you can view the recording.
Frances Namoumou, Ecumenical Animator for Ecological Stewardship and Climate Justice for the Pacific Conference of Churches (based in Fiji) was scheduled to speak at the webinar.
However, on Monday, we received reports from Frances that a Category 3 Tropical Cyclone was forecasted to pass near Fiji on November 14. Cyclone Mal brought gale force winds and damaged critical infrastructure including power lines. As a result, Frances was unable to participate in the webinar. The reality of her absence from a webinar discussing climate-related loss and damage was not lost on any of the participants. It illustrated one of the many barriers facing those most impacted by climate change from being heard and being able to participate in climate decision-making.
Learn more about Frances’ work and the Pacific Conference of Churches in this blog that was released ahead of last year’s COP27. Her absence served as an important reminder of our efforts to amplify voices from the Global South and to support their leadership in climate decision-making spaces.
KAIROS’ Climate Action Week coincides with one of those decision-making spaces: Asia-Pacific Climate Week (APCW) 2023, which is taking place from November 13 to 17, in Johor, Malaysia. Paul Belisario, Assistant Global Coordinator for the International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL), a KAIROS solidarity partner, is there and he is joined by Atama Katama, a IPMSDL member from Malaysia. Together they are bringing the voices of Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous youth and communities into the discourse and events of APCW 2023. Today, they are speaking at the Youth4Capacity Workshop titled Amplifying community-led climate action in driving change.
Earlier this week, Paul shared a video message with us capturing the first couple of days from this regional gathering. We invite you to watch it and follow the work of IPMSDL. We will share further reflections from Paul and Atama on their experience at APCW 2023.
