The Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education has launched a program to support young climate leaders in Kiribati and Tuvalu to advocate for their Pacific home in Australia, the region and beyond. Source: The Good Oil.
The Supporting Climate Resilient Leadership in Kiribati and Tuvalu Program was launched on October 16 in Balmain, Sydney, with six Climate Fellows from those two Pacific countries welcomed to the program.
Edmund Rice Centre director Alopi Latukefu said the program was funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is part of ERC’s Pacific Calling Partnership.
“The Fellowship Program is about giving the opportunity for these young leaders to have an immersive experience where they not only hone their skills and capability in advocacy but also their understanding of the way in which the systems in Australia work,” he said.
The six-week fellowship includes time spent in the political corridors of Canberra as well as in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, seeing first-hand the impact on communities transitioning away from dependence on fossil fuel industries.
The Sisters of the Good Samaritan have long been supporters of the ERC’s Pacific Calling Partnership, in line with their commitment to ecological conversion and the presence of Good Samaritan Sisters in Kiribati.
Three Sisters attended the Sydney launch of the fellowship program: Sisters Elizabeth Brennan, Veronica McCluskie and Agnes Farrugia, while others watched online.
Sr Elizabeth said she was very impressed by the young participants in the program, and their personal testimonies of the impacts of climate change on their daily lives.
“In their address to the group they exhibited leadership and expertise in different areas such as climate action, trade relations, improving access to water and raising awareness of shared responsibility for our planet,” she said.
“There was an earnestness and drive in these young people who want to take the learnings from this program back to their peoples and the peoples of the Pacific.”
FULL STORY
Program supports young climate leaders to advocate for their Pacific home (By Debra Vermeer, The Good Oil)
