(AU ABC) For These Torres Strait Islanders, Climate Change Is Already Here — And They're Urging The Government To Do More

ABC 7.30 - Andy Park | Alex McDonald | Jenny Ky

Kabay Tamu says he is terrified of being forced to leave his island home in the Torres Strait. (ABC News)

For generations, Indigenous Australians have thrived on the islands in the Torres Strait – but rising sea levels, more extreme weather and coastal erosion are devouring some of the 17 inhabited islands in the region and threatening their way of life. 

Scientific modelling suggests that some of the low-lying islands could become uninhabitable within decades if global temperatures keep rising at the current rate.

"If this happens, we'll be climate change refugees in our own country," Torres Strait Islander Kabay Tamu told 7.30.

"It's going to be so traumatising.

"Our ancestors, our forefathers were buried here. Just thinking about it just sometimes brings tears to my eyes.

"It's really scary to think about that."

In the east of the Torres Strait, Yessie Mosby says climate change has made his island home an increasingly desolate place.

Yessie Mosby has seen the effects of climate change on his island home. (ABC News: Alex McDonald)

Fresh water from a well that once sustained generations of Torres Strait Islanders has now turned to salt water and parts of the reef around the island that were once abundant with shellfish are now filled with sand.

"The reef outside, it looks like a desert," Mr Mosby said.

Masig Island, situated in the eastern area of the central island group in the Torres Strait. (ABC News)

"Our ancestors survived off drinking fresh water along the wells they dug out through this island.

"Most of the wells are near the shorelines now — they used to be inland.

"All the water [has] now become brackish. It used to be drinkable — [it's] not drinkable anymore."

'Our human rights are being violated'

Boigu Island priest Stanley Marama is one of eight Torres Strait Islanders who accuse the Australian Government of failing to address the climate impacts that threaten their homes and culture.

They've taken their case to the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva.

Stanley Marama says the Australian government should be doing more to help the Torres Strait deal with the impacts of climate change. (ABC News: Alex McDonald)

"[The] Government should help us right now — not tomorrow, not next year," Mr Marama told 7.30.

"We believe that our human rights are being violated because of the impacts and the effects of climate change," Kabay Tamu said. 

In a statement to 7.30, Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt said the Morrison Government is "confident its climate change policies are consistent with international human rights obligations" and are "committed to providing infrastructure supports to Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal people in the Torres Strait."

"Geographic circumstances heighten the Torres Strait region's vulnerability to several climate change threats … the government is aware of the risks and is helping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities build their resilience and prepare for the impacts of climate change."

What the scientific modelling shows

How much the world warms in coming decades could determine whether the cultural traditions of the Torres Strait survive.

The average global temperature has already increased by 1.1 degrees and will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius within the next 20 years if it continues on the current trajectory.

For the residents in the Torres Strait, time is running out.

Scientific modelling suggests the sea level there could rise about 80 centimetres by the end of this century, which would mean the kinds of devastating weather events that normally occur once every 100 years could hit low-lying islands like Boigu every few days.

"Probably in the last 10 years, I've seen about 20 metres of land being washed away," Mr Tamu told 7.30.

How much the world warms in coming decades could determine whether the cultural traditions of the Torres Strait survive. (ABC News: Alex McDonald)

In 2019, this group of Torres Strait Islanders asked Prime Minister Scott Morrison to come and see the impacts of climate change on the Torres Strait for himself — but the PM declined the invitation.

"It's pretty hard to see weather patterns change in Canberra," he said.

Communities located on low-lying islands are particularly vulnerable to increasingly intense storm tides caused by more extreme weather. (ABC News: ABC News)

Heather Zichal was a Climate Adviser during the Obama administration and she says meaningful action on the climate crisis needs to begin now.

"We have so much work to do," Ms Zichal said.

"Every single day that we aren't moving in the right direction, it's just going to make the problems and the challenges that much harder [to solve] down the road."

Locals determined to stay put

Masig Island resident Hilda Mosby hopes that building higher seawalls will protect the island — at least in the short term.

As they wait for construction to start on Masig Island, locals struggle to keep the rising sea from inundating the community.

A new seawall is currently being built on Boigu Island. (ABC News: Alex McDonald)

"We're doing everything we can to stay where we are," she said.

But London-based environmental lawyer Sophie Marjanac, who is working on the United Nations case, says Australian authorities need to plan for the worst — which means preparing to relocate some low-lying island communities.

"Our clients' islands are between three and 10 metres above sea level, so they're particularly vulnerable to the impacts of sea level rise," she told 7.30.

Environmental lawyer Sophie Marjanac is working on the United Nations case. (ABC News)

"Unfortunately, the science tells us that in the coming decades, some of these island communities will become uninhabitable.

"Planning for that really needs to begin now."

Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie said further climate impacts were now unavoidable in the Torres Strait.

"But we can help those communities prepare as best as possible," she said.

Warraber Islet in the Torres Strait. (ABC News)

The scientific consensus suggests the world has about a decade to prevent some of the worst impacts of climate change from occurring — and many of the island communities in the Torres Strait hope their homes will be spared.

"I want us to live here for as long as we can," Mr Tamu said.

"I want my children, my grandchildren to live here and to experience the life that we experienced growing up."

Links

• 'The island is being eaten': how climate change is threatening the Torres Strait
• 'It’s our right to be here': the Torres Strait Islanders fighting to save their homes from a rising sea
• The Torres Strait Islanders Taking 'World-First Climate Change Case' to UN
• Torres Strait Islanders take climate change complaint to the United Nations
• While my island nation sinks, Australia is doing nothing to solve climate change
• Torres Strait doctors issue call to arms over climate change impact on Indigenous health
• Fighting for Fraser Island: how tourism and climate change put an ancient environment at risk
• (AU) Australia Asks UN To Dismiss Torres Strait Islanders' Claim Climate Change Affects Their Human Rights
• Climate change: 90% of rural Australians say their lives are already affected
• Climate Council throws down gauntlet to Australia: Decarbonise by 2035 or pay the price
• Carbon dioxide levels reach historic high as Joe Biden calls world leaders to climate talks
• Savage heat of climate change could drive doctors out of the NT, survey finds