Pacific Climate Warriors

LOCATION: Pacific Islands

The Pacific Climate Warriors (PCW) is a network of grassroots organizers rooted in faith, love for their Island homes and cultures, respect, and humility. For the past four years, PCW has been working to fight for climate justice in the Pacific.

PCW’s main goal is to place the people and values of the Pacific islands at the center of climate work and develop a platform for Pacific island communities to be a part of negotiations around climate change. They emphasize the importance of narrative and storytelling in their work, which was the focus of their 2021 project “Kato Ni Mana,” which translates to “basket of power.” Kato Ni Mana used stories of the different baskets used across the Pacific islands to highlight the demands PCW was fighting for at the 26th Conference of Parties.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) processes can be very cumbersome. The complexities of the processes, the language, and policies make it difficult for Pacific communities to participate in them. PCW hopes to be able to demystify the process through storytelling, ensuring Pacific communities have what they need to show up powerfully for its nations. PCW hopes to see a diversification of the stories being told at the annual international conference of parties (COP) events and wants to see human faces and voices being centered, not the will of fossil fuel industry giants who also attend.

PCW wants its communities to know their stories and their voices are powerful and wants to empower them to envision their voices at the center of these negotiations. It want to see Pacific leaders speak to truth to power through the voices and stories shared in this project.

Image Credit: Pacific Climate Warriors