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People living in the Torres Strait Islands are at serious risk of becoming Australia’s first climate refugees. Now, two Traditional Owners from the Guda Maluyligal Nation are taking the Australian Government to the Federal Court for their failure to act.  

Uncle Paul and Uncle Pabai hail from the islands of Boigu and Sabai - both of which are already being flooded during storms and King Tides. Their families have thrived there on Country for over 65,000 years - now, they risk losing everything.

Sea levels in the Torres Strait are rising twice as fast as the global average. These floods damage people’s homes, and the salt water gets into their gardens - killing the vegetables they grow to feed their families. 

Rising seas, increasing temperatures and changing biodiversity are already preventing communities from exercising their rights to self determination, culture, and the right to, health, housing, food and water - their right to live

If emissions are not drastically reduced, and fast, people will be forced off their islands  - and their connection to Country, culture and identity will be severed forever. 

Uncle Paul and Uncle Pabai are standing shoulder to shoulder with First Nations leaders and activists across this continent, who are fighting to protect their rights and communities. Together, they are just two of thousands of people who call the Torres Strait Islands home, living on the frontline of the climate crisis in Australia. 

They are determined to protect their human rights and their communities, before it’s too late - and we stand with them.

Uncle Pabai says of the Guda Maluyligal Nation in the Torres Strait: “We are born to these islands, they are our mothers, our identities, who we are. For thousands of years, our warrior families fought off anyone who tried to take our homelands from us. But now, we could lose the fight to climate change.”

Sign Amnesty’s petition now, calling on the Australian Government to take real climate action in line with science to protect the Torres Strait Islands and the human rights of First Nations peoples.

Sign the Petition

  Our Petition
 
 

The Hon Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister
The Hon Chris Bowen, Minister for Climate Change and Energy
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra, ACT, 2600

Dear Prime Minister and Minister

Climate change is the most significant threat to the human rights of First Nations People. Rising seas, increasing temperatures and changing biodiversity affect First Nations Peoples right to self-determination, practice culture, and the right to life, health, housing, food and water. 

People in the Torres Strait are on the frontlines of Australia’s climate crisis. 

Without adequate action, and fast – the islands in the Torres Strait could become uninhabitable, forcing Torres Strait Islander communities to leave their homes, severing 65,000 years of connection to the land and making them Australia’s first climate change refugees.

We call on you, Prime Minister Albanese and Minister Bowen, to protect the human rights of First Nations communities and adopt policies in line with scientific evidence and a 1.5-degree temperature rise. 

Yours sincerely,