Yessie Mosby is one of the so-called Torres Strait Eight, a group from the Pacific Islands which lodged a complaint with the UN Human Rights Council. Their complaint - that Australia is not doing enough to protect their people from climate change - was the first ever case of its kind. Mr Mosby - a Zenadh Kes Masig man - has been in Hawaii for the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture to connect with other countries from across the Pacific who are experiencing the climate crisis on their doorstep.
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TRANSCRIPT
Yessie Mosby is determined to see results in the war against climate change in the Pacific.
He's already seen the devastating effects on his homeland, Masig Island in the Torres Strait.
"Within the last two years, we've lost three meters of land. It affects our traditional way of practice and the way of living."
Speaking at the recent Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture gathering in Hawaii, Mr Mosby is encouraging Indigenous peoples in the Pacific region to think about other island nations in their pursuit of climate justice.
"Nothing has been heard now because they're moving singly. If they all come together and join, that's what we are asking for to come and join us."
Mr Mosby knows that victory is possible.
In 2022, he and a group of seven others from the Torres Strait Islands successfully lodged a complaint against the Australian government to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
"It set a precedent throughout the world, knowing that a lot of other islands and other Indigenous people will eat the fruit of this labor, that they will seek climate justice for their home."
Despite their win at the U-N, the Torres Strait Eight never received financial compensation.
Instead, the federal government invested the funds into climate research.
"If you asked me personally, I would've wanted the money to go to help in seawall or the coral bleaching, not to come up with another little organisation that they're just going to fly around and study climate change. Climate change is real."
Mr Mosby is now calling on the government to come and see for themselves the real threat his homeland faces.
"The government cannot make no decision in the comfort of their couches and in their offices. They really need to come home, come to the Torres Strait and sit with grassroots people."
