This article was first published by NITV.
Attending the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture, hosted in Hawai’i this year, Yessie Mosby is spreading the urgent message on the impact of rising sea levels and climate change for First Nations people and culture.
As part of the Australian delegation attending the festival, Mosby, a Zenadh Kes Masig man, has been connecting with other countries from across the pacific who are experiencing the same climate crisis on their doorstep.
“When you talk about climate justice, it has to take all of us to come together, like now, here at this festival … because once everybody’s together, the unity is strong,” he said.
“When we fight for climate justice, singly, as our nation only, it doesn’t give an impact. But when we, all [pacific] nations who have the same struggle comes together, that’s where the power sets in.
“To protect our culture, our way of living, and our islands for the next generation.”
Mosby is part of the Torres Strait 8, a group of claimants and Traditional Owners from the Torres Strait Islands who lodged a complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHCR) against the Australian Government for it’s the inaction on climate change.
In September 2022, the group were successful, making international legal history.
The UNHCR found Australia’s failure to protect Torres Strait Islanders against the impacts of climate change violated their right to practice their culture
“For Torres Strait 8 that was a very big case – that we set a precedent throughout the Indigenous world, for nations around the world,” Mosby said.
Helping our brothers and sisters in the Pacific
A part of the 25 nations attending this year’s festival in Honolulu, Mosby said it’s an honour to connect with other Indigenous people and share his experience from the case.
“It’s an honour for me to be here, to share, because ... it hit me differently when hearing other nations say they lost four, five, six islands and their families have been moving as refugees to other islands.
“I know we back at home are suffering, we need urgent help, the same way our brothers and sisters here in the Pacific needs urgent help.”
Mosby said to help preserve our islands and culture, Australia and the world must lower carbon emissions and keep global warming to less than 1.5 degrees.
He also encourages all Australians to sign the Our Island Our Home petition which calls on the Albanese Government to increase funding for seawalls across the Torres Strait Islands.
“We can help. We need to come together and be very strong.”
“[Only then], when we leave this world, we will leave this world with a smile on our face knowing that we have we have done something right for our next generations and generations after to come.
“That they can live in Australia for another 60,000 years.”
A cross-cultural exchange
The Youth Ambassadors for Australia’s delegation at FestPAC this year are Siena Stubbs and Rulla Kelly-Mansell.
Stubbs is a Yolŋu woman and multi-skilled creative while Kelly-Mansell is tulampanga nupuwala from lutruwita (Tasmania) who is a decorated MC/storyteller and a part of the duo MarlonxRulla.
The pair have been involved in the FestPAC program, which aims to bring together youth representatives from across the Pacific region “to inform future programs and contribute to the development of FestPAC and the cultural sector of the Pacific.”
“It’s been extremely eye opening for me, coming across for first time here in Hawai’i and just being able to learn about the reality of some situations in other people’s countries and communities,” said Kelly-Mansell.
“I’m motivated to take that back home and try and implement some action-based solutions.”
“We’ve been involved in some workshops that have encouraged us to think about problem solving and use learning skills that we can use back in our communities,” Stubbs said.
The ambassadors have mixed with other nations such as Palau, Samoa, American Samoa, Fiji and the Cook Islands.
Throughout the program Kelly-Mansell said he’s been able to observe the common challenges that First Nations people in Australia and other pacific nations face.
“The Pacific Ocean that people think separates us is actually what brings us together. So it becomes extra important to tap into what’s happening on climate change,” he said.
Stubbs the youth program and FestPAC has been an special honour to represent her nation and share her voice on a global stage.
“It’s been really amazing, because we’ve been able to show other mobs in the Pacific that we aren’t actually just one people, we are many, and making sure that they know that and taking that back to their nations.
“That’s been a really valuable opportunity.
“It’s been really lovely to be all together, and I think that really empowers your drive to make change and, and stand up for the rights of our people,” she said.
For fellow Australian delegate, Dre Ngatokorua, he says it’s been great to connect with other Aboriginal and Torres Strait mob who’ve made the trip to Hawai’i, organised by Creative Australia.
“It’s been really good to meet a lot of different mobs from a lot of different places especially from the Torres Strait, learning about their music and their dance.”
Ngatokorua is based in South Australia and from comes the Adnyamathanha, Kuyani, Wangkangurru, Yunkunitjatjara, Māori and Cook Islander peoples. He’s a language teacher, DJ and broadcaster, better known by his artist name MoZzi.
At the Hawai’i convention centre, he’s been showcasing his multimedia production titled MoZzi X Inkatja: A New Moon at the Australian hale (house) for the FestPAC public expo.
“I’ve had a chance to meet a few other people in Indigenous media around here and it was deadly to sort of see how they want to interact with us, and they’ve learned a bit about Australia and how that how different our mob is.”
“They want to listen and hear about our struggles and our way of life, so it’s very been interesting.”
By Alexis Moran for NITV.