Fenton Lutunatabua

We were standing out by the ocean on some rocks, and my pa had a spear in his hand and a smile in his eyes, waiting for dinner to swim by. To pass the time, my pa would tell me stories about his old people. That day, he told me that we come from a long line of boat builders and fisher folk, and that the ocean would always be kind to us. This was my pa's truth.

His story. And his story was what put food on the table for my mother and her siblings. Growing up, the stories that I was surrounded by taught me that I was linked to the ocean, and that the ocean was linked to me.

Over the years, as I've come to learn about a warming ocean, sea level rise and runaway climate impacts, I realized that the very same thing that had nourished my family for generations could now potentially destroy us. This realization has shaped my dedication to building out a truly Pacifica-led climate movement.

Bula vinaka, my name is Fentin Utunatumbua, and I'm from the Fiji Islands. Today I have the absolute privilege to be able to talk to you about the Pacific Climate Warriors. The Pacific Climate Warriors are an incredible network of young Pasifika people from across the Pacific region and in diaspora communities in Australia, Aotearoa, New Zealand and the United States.

The Pacific Climate Warriors and the communities that they represent contribute less than one percent to global greenhouse gas emissions. Yet they are among the most vulnerable to the threats of the climate crisis. Our story as the Pacific Climate Warriors began over a decade ago at the Youth Climate Conference, the global power shift in Istanbul, Turkey.

It was there that we realized that the only stories folks from outside the Pacific knew about our people was that we were mere victims to this climate crisis, waiting to be saved from our drowning islands. This was, of course, untrue.

Yhdistelmällisesti, juuri silloin päin päin, me päätimme rajoittaa tämän trendin ilmaston käsittelyyn, ja sen sijaan kuin vain keskittyä ilmastonvaihtoehtoihin Pasiikassa, myös näyttää maailmalle, mitä me teimme hakemaan. Me emme hake. Me olemme hakemaan. Se tuli meidän sloganimme.

our mantra. The shared identity of the Pacific Climate Warriors was born, and less than a year later, at the largest coal production port in the world, in Newcastle, Australia, we paddled out in our traditionally built handmade canoes and blockaded that coal port for a day.

ja ensimmäisenä seuraavan näkökulman näkökulmasta olemme voineet poistaa tämän syrjinnän tarinan ja rakentaa sen, joka näyttäisi meidän ihmisemme täydellisyyttä tällä klimaattisella kriisillä. Emme välttäneet olla vain kalastusmallissa, jotka ovat valmiita käsittelyihin. Olimme tietoja, että meidän täytyy olla herrat, joita yhteiskuntamme tarjoavat.

We also knew that we had to retell the world our stories and build our climate narratives. So many of us are being defined by narratives that do not serve us. So many of us let these stories take away our power, rob us of our agency and strip us of our fullest, most authentic selves. That has to change.

Olemme, joita olemme, koska kertoamme itseämme ja toisiamme tarinoita. Meidän täytyy olla parempia kertoa tarinoita ja tuottaa strategioita, jotka ovat tarpeeksi helppoja rakentamaan uuden näkökulman tulevaisuudesta, jonka me voimme kokeilla. Meidän täytyy tehdä näin kaksi asiaa. Klimaaliitoksen ja narratiivisen liitoksen.

Climate leadership is specific communities continuing to say no to fossil fuels and yes to climate solutions in whatever spaces we find ourselves, from village town halls all the way up to the United Nations climate talks. Climate leadership are partners, allies and collaborators across the majority world, creating the conditions necessary for us to voyage towards a Pacific beyond fossil fuels.

Klimaattinen jäsenryhmä on ystävämme Filippiinissä, joka opettaa meitä Zoomin kautta, kuinka rakentaa takapakkojen pohjaiset sola-moduulit, jotta meillä on mahdollisuus tarjota mobiilipalveluamme, terveydenhuollon, sekä käsittää ilmaa, kun kategori 5-cyklonin jälkeen on tehty maahanmuuttaja yhdellä isällämme.

Climate leadership is about our communities learning about keyhole gardens, gardens built above the ground to mitigate saltwater intrusion, so our people can grow, consume and redistribute our local and traditional foods. Narrative leadership, on the other hand, is this. It's a community organizer from the Pacific standing here telling you stories about our people at the front lines of this climate crisis.

It's a willingness to articulate an alternative way forward that puts people and communities before anything else. Narrative leadership is about telling fuller, more nuanced stories that enable us to become the future ancestors that our children can be proud of.

Klimaattinen johtaminen ja narratiivinen johtaminen, joita on rakennettu ja muodostettu suurimmilla yhteisöillä, voivat ja voivat yhdistää tulevaisuudet, joita me kaikki tarvitsemme. Yhteisö, jossa klimaattiset ratkaisut tukevat ja vahvistavat me, kansainvälisiä yhteisöjä, olemme meidän suurimmat itseämme.

a future where our communities can own and have access to renewable sources of energy and a future that is ultimately fossil free.

It takes all of us doing what we can to be able to co-create these futures. And in order to co-create these futures that we deserve, we need to break the stories and the strategies that don't serve us anymore and build the ones that do. Beyond just being stewards of our stories, we can also be stewards of our solutions. Thank you very much.