PROMOTING THE PRESIDENT OF KIRIBATI, ATENE TONG, FOR THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
From the Media Release from the Edmund Rice Centre
Phil Glendenning is part of this committee formed of prominent individuals from the international community to honour the Pacific leader and to promote his climate message.
'In this part of the year when the world celebrates international human rights day, it is fitting to announce this Nobel nomination campaign - which calls us to consider the human rights of the people most at risk from climate change,' Mr Glendenning said.
'For the peoples of nations like Kiribati, climate change threatens the very existence of their culture. In promoting President Tong in this manner, the Committee's aim is to call the international community to listen to the peoples of the Pacific in their pleas for urgent and major global action on climate change,' Mr Glendenning said.
'They understand, more than most, the dangers that climate change poses to infrastructure, health and security, and to the very future of their nations.
'As the leader of Kiribati - one of the most vulnerable Pacific island nations - President Tong has long been calling for the world to take positive action to deal collectively and cooperatively with the threat and impact of climate change.'
'Since President Tong's initial election to the presidency in 2003 he has helped to carry the voice of Small Island Developing States into the global debate on climate change action. He is a key advocate on the threat of long-term climate change to the national security of low-lying atoll nations like Kiribati' said Mr Glendenning who has witnessed the changes in Kiribati in recent years.
'Among international leaders President Tong has been and continues to be one of the most compelling voices in bringing to the world's attention the fact that climate change is the ultimate challenge to human security. President Tong is a quiet man whose calm and rational voice resonates forcefully when he makes plain that climate justice is central to the quest for peace and global security in the 21st Century.
