TSRA Chairperson's Column - June 2009

TSRA News Column

June 2009

I wish to acknowledge the traditional owners of Kaiwalagal on whose land I am writing from and all other traditional owners and elders throughout our region.

UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to deliver a presentation at the United Nation’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues recently. The Forum was held from 18-25 May 2009, in New York, and involved the participation of Indigenous representatives from around the world, including Australia.

The key topic of discussion at the Forum was climate change, which is currently affecting many of the world’s Indigenous communities, including the Torres Strait. In this month’s column, I would like to share with you my presentation on climate change in the Torres Strait:

“I wish to gratefully use my short time to highlight some of the direct effects that global warming is having on the Torres Strait Islands in Australia.

Our homeland, which is situated between the Northern Tip of the Australian mainland and Papua New Guinea, is a mixture of continental and low lying sand and mud islands, surrounded by cays and reefs, which are subject to storm surges and tidal inundation each year.

Over 9,000 people live on our islands and the impact of these events is projected to increase over the next 90 years. Approximately 27 percent of our island communities are affected by climate change and the rising sea level right now in 2009.

For us this is not a phenomenon that we have the luxury of reading about, unfortunately for some of us it will become an even more real part of our daily lives each year.

To give you an example, in January 2009, water depths in some communities rose by a metre in height due to strong winds and high tides - impacting people, infrastructure, cultural sites, ecosystems and traditional gardens.

In addition, other potential impacts of climate change including changes to rainfall patterns, hotter weather and spread of diseases may significantly impact Torres Strait Island communities.

To address these issues, the Torres Strait Regional Authority or TSRA, which is an Australian Government Statutory Authority and comprised of elected Indigenous leaders, has formed a partnership of government agencies to address coastal management.

The Committee leads a coordinated approach to coastal management and climate change and has been working on identifying long-term sustainable solutions to coastal issues and ways to secure funding to implement these solutions. However, funds to protect threatened infrastructure have been limited and hard to secure.

What we are trying to do and must do is use the limited resources that we have to prepare ourselves for the real challenges that climate change will present to the people of the Torres Strait.

We do not want to leave our ancestral lands as these islands and the sea that surrounds them makes us who we are – they are an inseparable part of our physical and spiritual identity.

Yet a day may come when we will need to make some very hard decisions.

Let me pause to acknowledge the Australian Government’s decision to officially support the United Nation’s Declaration on the Right of Indigenous Peoples.

This is a major achievement for our small country and an important moment in refocusing reconciliation and engagement between the peoples of Australia.

What this also highlights is that for Torres Strait Islanders climate change will directly challenge some key rights that we will need to protect.

Among them are our Rights to Life, Water, Food, Health, Culture and a Healthy Environment.

I commend the Australian and Queensland Governments for their commitment to partner with the people of the Torres Strait in attempting to scope out the size of the challenge that is before us.

I sincerely hope that this will be a lasting relationship that is appropriately resourced to help our people protect their existence and basic rights.

To date, the TSRA in partnership with the Australian Government is undertaking a number of activities that will allow us to make informed decisions in the near future on how our region can adapt to sea level rise and climate change.

Some of these include research to raise the level of awareness about short-term erosion and long-term inundation, extensive land use planning and finding ways to use scientific and traditional knowledge to deal with environmental change.

As with many issues facing indigenous people throughout the world, the solutions normally transcend the terms and policy cycles of governments. Short-term fixes will not work. Only a genuine attempt to chip away at the problem itself over an extended period of time is going to make a real difference.

Addressing climate change in the Torres Strait will not only test us as a people, it will test Australia as a nation and how well we can all learn to adapt and ultimately thrive in an environment and a world that will hold us more accountable for what we do.

In closing, I hope that your collective actions as the Permanent Forum will continue to shape a call-to-action around the world to address climate change and let our stories, lessons and victories as indigenous people, continue to inspire a shared vision that protects our rights to exist.”


Until the next column, may God bless you all and keep you safe.