On September 23, 2014, twenty-six-year-old Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner performed her poem “Dear Matafele Peinem” at the opening ceremony of the United Nations (UN) Climate Summit. Before an audience of world leaders in business, civil society, finance, and government, she discussed efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, advance climate justice, and generate political will for protecting the environment.

Jetñil-Kijiner also talked about how her relatives and friends have been mitigating the impact of climate change in their homeland, the Republic of the Marshall Islands. She called on leaders at the UN to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) worldwide. Pacific Islander communities, many of whom reside in coastal areas, produce less than 0.03 percent of the world’s GHGs. Yet they are on the front lines of the environmental changes being wrought by them.

Today every Pacific Island country agrees that climate change is harming agriculture, animals, coral reefs, fish, fresh water reservoirs, housing, human health, and the overall environment. This is why climate change remains one of the most compelling issues for Oceania activists, artists, community leaders, educators, diplomats, policy makers, and scientists.

This module looks at the impacts of climate change in Oceania, as well as the global leadership of Pacific Islanders protecting the planet against climate change.