about

Small Islands, Big Need
Project Survival Pacific began its life at the UN POZNAN Conference of the Parties in 2008. The second ever Australian Youth delegation to the UNFCCC realised that a lack of resources and personnel was a serious barrier faced by all Pacific Island nations at the negotiations. The Pacific island nations were prevented from negotiating effectively at the conferences and severely limited in their ability to contribute to a treaty which would protect their people and cultures, and not just ours. The delegation, sent by the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) brainstormed with other national youth delegations and envisioned a project which would compel their national governments and people to take action to help their vulnerable island neighbors, who in the Pacific total over 17 million people spread over 155 million Square kilometers of ocean. The project was dubbed “Project Survival” and was created with the intent to ensure the survival of all vulnerable peoples and cultures in the face of damaging climate change.
Volunteers from around the Region
Project Survival now includes initiatives involving USA support of the Caribbean, European support of the African nations, and Australian support of the Pacific nations.
Project Survival Pacific is an AYCC team comprised of 26 young people, spread around Australian and across the Pacific. Team members range from 19 through to thirty years of age, and come from various professions and studies.
Eight members have relocated to Pacific island states in order to work with youth in the area, and to set up Climate change networks and action groups. Project Survival members in the Pacific work in local government positions and participate in regular activities designed to educate local youth about climate change, and enable them to take action to protect their homes, including attending the UN COP15 negotiations.
Climate change is widely recognized as a major threat to living standards in Pacific nations, where locals have been experiencing the effects of climate change for several years. Fresh water becomes scarce as water tables rise and crops, living areas and livelihoods are damaged by increasingly violent storms and storm surges. A key goal of the project is to establish a strong network across the Pacific which works towards protecting these nations from damaging climate change.
Another 18 members operate around Australian capital cities, lobbying government, running media campaigns and supporting Pacific efforts. Base team members regularly attend conferences around the Pacific, including the Fiji Youth Conference, and the Cook islands Conference for Climate Change.
In December 2009 the entire team will attend the UN COP15 in Copenhagen, with the intent to support Pacific negotiators and delegations at the conference, and will fund several Pacific youth negotiators to go with them as a part of the project. The team will participate in negotiations to form a treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, and will also act as a watchdog to the Australian government and will document the conference using both film and online resources.
Mission
“A future in which sustained global cooperation safeguards our planet from the perils of climate change, ensuring the survival and prosperity of the nations, peoples and cultures of the Pacific islands.”
PSP is about youth mobilizing to safeguard the survival of our most vulnerable neighbours and empowering youth of these nations, the future leaders, to take action.

“A future in which sustained global cooperation safeguards our planet from the perils of climate change, ensuring the survival and prosperity of the nations, peoples and cultures of the Pacific islands.”

Project Survival Pacific

Australian Youth supporting the Pacific Islands


 

Our Story So Far…

COP14 in Poznan in 2008 saw more youth involved in the negotiations than ever before. However, it was also clear that great inequities existed in youth representation, just as was the case in the negotiations. Few young people were there to speak on behalf of the most vulnerable nations.

It was this that triggered the birth of Project Survival: the notion that the youth movement had to work towards becoming truly global. An American Project Survival team emerged to support the Caribbean. A European group emerged to support Africa. Project Survival Media emerged to promote a strong, united message internationally.

And in Australia, Project Survival Pacific was born.

Our Team

Our team is made up of vibrant young volunteers, who live and work throughout Australia and the Pacific. We have a wide variety of personal and professional backgrounds, but are united in our belief that the world needs to listen to the voices of those on the climate frontlines.

For the Copenhagen negotiations, we sent a delegation of 26 passionate youth climate advocates from Australia,  Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia. In Cancun we held a similar delegation of Fijian and Australian youth. In 2011 we will form a new delegation for Durban which will be a mixture of new blood and experienced members representing as many AOSIS states as possible.  

Our Activities

We do not only work in the UNFCC – Project Survival is engaged in a number of activities which aim to ensure the survival of all peoples and cultures:

  • We have a number of young Australians working in climate-related positions in Pacific nations such as Vanuatu, Tonga and the Solomon Islands.
  • We are assisting in setting up youth climate networks in Pacific nations.
  • We work to have Pacific climate issues more regularly and comprehensively covered in Australian, Pacific and world media.
  • We attend UN climate negotiations, working to reframe the climate debate around survival.
  • We work on Pacific community art and expression projects with international funding.
  • In 2011 we are beginning to work assisting local adaptation projects.

 

Contact Information

If you would like more information about Project Survival Pacific, or are keen to assist us in our activities, please contact our Director, Zoe Whitton, at zoe.whitton@youthclimatecoalition.org.

For more information, head to our contact page