VISIT TO KIRIBATI
Claude Mostowik MSC
Dear friends,
I am off to Kiribati today for about a week or so with a group of people connected with the Pacific Calling Partnership at the Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education.I just wanted to share with you some of the aims of the visit;
• Witness the effects climate change is already having on the people of the Kiribati
• Listen to issues that concern the Kiribati government around mitigation, adaptation and migration.
• Experience the strong Kiribati culture and community life
• Be inspired by the resilience of people living in a materially poor country that is in many ways cut off from the rest of the world
• Hear people's stories about the effects of climate change on their lives, their culture and future
• Understand the limits poverty and unjust trading arrangements have on the ability to respond adequately to climate change
In addition we hope that the trip will result in:
• enhancing the media profile of Pacific Island climate change issues
• reaching out to a broader audience in Australia with the stories about Kiribati and the reasons why it is vulnerable to climate change
• deepening relationships between key players/contacts in Australia and the Pacific Islands
