Oceania Voices on Caring for our Home

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has released three short videos for World Environment and World Oceans Day highlighting key environmental concerns for the peoples of Oceania. The videos are available through Caritas’ State of Environment page on its website.

Malialosa Tapueluelu from Caritas Tonga says climate change is real as Tongans face sea level rise and more intense tropical cyclones. It is challenging livelihoods, culture and coping mechanisms. In the face of that, youth are actively involved in training and preparing communities for future emergencies.

Annemarie Mondu, Development Secretary for Papua New Guinea’s Bishops, relates how increasingly extreme weather – such as heavy rain, drought and cyclones – impact her people. Caritas in Papua New Guinea is involved in education and support to help people adapt and become more resilient.

From Fiji, Archbishop of Suva Peter Loy Chong says that while the Fijian government is outspoken on climate change, it is allowing gravel extraction for roading projects to destroy food sources and coastal ecosystems in his mother’s province of Tailevu.

The three represented their respective countries at a recent gathering in Rome of the international Caritas network of 165 Catholic agencies – working together over the next four years to promote the concept of one human family living on Earth as one common home.

Over the last five years, Caritas members in Oceania have raised increasing concern about the impact of environmental changes on our common home in Oceania. These concerns and responses are related through annual Caritas State of the Environment for Oceania reports – released each St Francis Day on 4 October.

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