Climate change increasingly risks Pacific security and sovereignty on land and sea due to sea level rise, a warming ocean, disaster, and displacement. These challenges are no longer the problems of the future– they are some of the largest risks of today. Addressing these challenges requires understanding and partnership between the leaders of today and tomorrow. In building toward a better future, the Center for Climate and Security (CCS), with support from the US Mission to New Zealand, launched the Youth-Led Visions of a Climate-Secure Pacific program, the second iteration of a young leaders program that started in 2023 with a NATO-focused cohort.
From left to right: videographer Mojeri Coker; Young Leaders Michael Chapman, Liam Clegg, Silas Zhang, and Conrad Johnie Ikaika Morgan; CCS Research Fellow Elsa Barron; and Young Leaders Kalita Titi Homasi, Georgia Nichols, and Hailey Campbell.
CCS selected seven young leaders for the program, based on their visions of a climate-secure Pacific shared in the video below. These included Hailey Campbell (United States), Michael Chapman (United States), Liam Clegg (Cook Islands/ Australia), Kalita Titi Homasi (New Zealand/ Tuvalu), Conrad Johnie Ikaika Morgan (United States), Georgia Nichols (United States), and Silas Zhang (New Zealand). You can find more information about the call for applications and read the bios of our selected young leaders on the program website.
In early July, the group of seven young leaders, along with CCS Research Fellow Elsa Barron, CSR Communications Associate Courtney Tillman, and videographer Mojeri Coker, traveled to Wellington, New Zealand for an engaging program to share their visions of a climate secure Pacific and to learn from the ongoing work of leaders in Aotearoa New Zealand on climate and security policies, programs, and grassroots initiatives.
The group met with New Zealand’s Ministry for the Environment, Ministry of Defence, New Zealand Defence Force, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Maritime Security Oversight Committee Secretariat at the Ministry of Transport. The group also engaged with civil society, sharing a meal with representatives of the 350 Pacific Climate Warriors, a network of grassroots youth Pacific Island advocates, and volunteering with the Southern Environmental Association at Tawatawa reserve, planting native plant species and learning about the local history of conservation and land management. The group closed their time in Wellington with a dinner hosted by US Ambassador Tom Udall and Ms. Jill Cooper, where the participants had the chance to share their experiences and takeaways from the program.
A few important themes emerged over the course of the group’s reflections and conversations with partners throughout the trip.
Preserving knowledge, culture, and ways of life is the foundation of climate security in the Pacific. Climate change hazards, particularly sea level rise, seriously threaten the existence and viability of some communities, islands, and even entire nations in the Pacific. At the same time, many communities in the Pacific have strong connections to their homelands, exemplified by the passing down of unique cultural, environmental, and ancestral knowledge. A Pacific-led vision of climate security must include opportunities to preserve this traditional knowledge and practice for future generations and honor the wisdom of generations that have come before. Secure access to food, water, land, and community are baseline requirements in this vision.
Investments in climate adaptation, conflict prevention and economic resilience in the region will only succeed in creating climate security if based on partnerships rooted in trust and local leadership. Many communities in the Pacific receive investment and security guarantees from outside their borders. With the region strongly impacted by geostrategic competition, it is important that partners put the needs of local communities first, investing in their priorities on climate security challenges. While it is easy to implement blanket approaches across the region, the Pacific is not monolithic, and local leaders equipped with their community’s unique cultural, environmental, and ancestral knowledge should lead the development of climate solutions. It is also important to prevent conflict and resource exploitation by competing actors that do not prioritize the interests of the local people of the Pacific.
Whole-of-government and regional, cross-border responses to climate-driven hazards can build capacity and resilience in the Pacific. The impacts of climate change affect many areas of government interest, for example infrastructure, biodiversity, migration and displacement, and emergency response. Developing a whole-of-government approach to climate change enables a more cohesive and effective approach to climate resilience. Additionally, regional collaboration builds capacity to respond to increasingly extreme weather emergencies. Not only does the New Zealand Defence Force respond to climate-related hazards experienced by their partners in the Pacific, but they also received reciprocal support from Fiji responding to Hurricane Gabriel in 2023, demonstrating a shared commitment to regional climate security and resilience across Pacific partnerships.
Young leaders have an important stake in the climate future, and the Pacific has often led the way on innovative policy and solutions development. For example, Pacific island nations played a crucial role in setting the 1.5 degree Celsius target limit for warming that became a focal point of the international Paris Agreement on climate change. Similarly, young advocates have often called for greater ambition on climate action, and a renewed commitment to the 1.5 degree target.
This leadership, and the stake that youth have in the climate future, makes a strong case for climate security starting with the perspectives of young leaders in the Pacific. Youth of the region have a deep and sobering understanding of the impacts of climate change, and a strong ambition for a secure, resilient, and just future for all. The world would do well to listen to them.