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Yessie Mosby is determined to see results in the war against climate change in the Pacific.
He has already seen the devastating effects on his homeland, Masig Island in the Torres Strait.
“In the last two years we have lost three meters of land. This affects our traditional way of practicing and way of life.”
Speaking at the recent Pacific Arts and Culture Festival in Hawaii, Mosby encouraged indigenous peoples in the Pacific region to think of other island nations in the pursuit of climate justice.
“There’s no word now because they’re moving individually. If they all come together and unite, that’s what we’re asking for them to come and join us.”
Mr. Mosby knows that victory is possible.
In 2022, he and a group of seven other Torres Strait Islanders successfully lodged a complaint against the Australian government with the United Nations Human Rights Council.
“It sets a precedent around the world, knowing that many other islands and other indigenous peoples will eat the fruit of this labor, who will seek climate justice for their home.”
Despite their victory at the United Nations, the Torres Strait Eight never received financial compensation.
Instead, the federal government poured the funds into climate research.
“If you asked me personally, I would have wanted the money to go to help with damming or coral bleaching, not to invent another little organization to fly around and study climate change. Climate change is real.”
Mosby is now calling on the government to come and see for itself the real threat his homeland faces.
“The Government can’t make any decisions from the comfort of their sofas and their offices. They really need to go home, come to the Torres Strait and sit down with the grassroots.”