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Suva, Fiji – A disposable mask flies out of an overflowing bin that hasn’t been shut properly; in the course of one night it encounters a seagull, a whale and a school of sleeping fish who fervently attempt to chase it out of their homes – afraid it might kill them, just like so many other scary things that humans carelessly throw away.
Masky’s Night of Adventure is part of a new ten-book adventure series created by a group of Fiji-based authors covering critical ocean themes spanning sea-level risesand pollution to ocean acidification or deforestation.
These colorful books are just a few of the many worldwide that address the need for people with disabilities to be included in the fight against climate change.
“The ocean plays a big role in climate regulation,” said Milika Sobey, the Pacific Islands programme manager at The Asia Foundation, which initiated the project.
“While the ocean is so deeply embedded in the identity and culture of the Pacific Islands, many children in the region have already experienced firsthand the impacts of severe cyclonic events which are happening with greater frequency. They are witnessing firsthand the rising ocean, the destructive storm surges and the erosion of coastlines as well as the trauma of relocation. But, we want Pacific children not to have to fear the ocean; rather they must be empowered to become respectful protectors of the largest aqua ecosystem in the world – the Pacific Ocean.”
The Pacific Island nations are the largest water bodies in the world.
For tens of thousands of years, oceanic civilisations have navigated, built, fought, married, celebrated, mourned, sung and worshipped along the “blue highways” of the Pacific. They revered the sea for its life-giving power, feared it for its might and protected it with a fierce love that transcends time. The people of the Pacific have been sustained by the ocean in one of the most remote areas of the planet.
Illustration taken from Night of Adventure [Ropate Kama/Asia Foundation]In the last 20 years, however, coastal infrastructure, homes, and land have been disappearing more frequently. The spread of certain diseases, as well as more intense cyclones. Due to warming waters, Palau, a nation in the North Pacific region of the Philippines, saw its famous stingless jellyfish disappear three years ago. This was the first time that has ever happened in living memory.
Further south, Fijian officials are moving dozens of villages it fears will disappear under the water. Tuvalu, an atoll nation, cannot be saved from sinking unless there is urgent, billion-dollar land reclamation.
Perhaps the most tragic aspect of this alarming turn of things is the fact that none of these countries that are at imminent risk of disappearing forever have done anything to support the climate crisis that is changing oceans.
Instead, after thousands of years of careful stewardship and conservation, the proud people of the “Large Ocean States” risk being brought to their knees by the world’s biggest nations – mega carbon emittersWhose industries and lifestyles are responsible for global warming?
A vocal advocate at last year’s Climate Conference in Glasgow, Fiji’s Permanent Ambassador to the United Nations, Satyendra Prasad explains that the climate crisis is essentially an ocean crisis.
“The earth has two lungs – the Amazon and the vast Blue Pacific,” he told Al Jazeera. “Already, the Amazon is carbon-positive [releasing more carbon dioxide than it is absorbing]We need to do more to keep the Pacific Ocean at its best. It currently provides 20 percent of the world’s oxygen; 60 percent of its tuna and over 80 percent of non-tuna aquatic ‘blue foods’. Beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit and a key target of the 2015 Paris climate accord), we stand to lose all of this, as well as the Ocean’s infinite biodiversity.”
Labelled the “Blue Leaders”, the broad coalition of government leaders and ocean advocates from 13 countries, including Fiji and Palau, called for immediate action by global heads of state at COP26 to protect the world’s vast oceans and its irreplaceable ecosystems from the potentially fatal impact wrought by climate change and human activity.
“Really, our only hope for a future where the Pacific and the planet continue to exist and thrive is in the leadership of youth,” Prasad said. “Pacific youth must continue to lead the world – through science, technology, knowledge; through activism and advocacy both at home and well-beyond the region.”
Masi is a mangrove tree on Ocean Superhero Day. His classmates tease him at first, but then they realize the importance of mangroves for ocean health. [Ropate Kama/Asia Foundation]Unheard and unheard
Sakiusa Volavola is an illustrator for the new Fijian series of books.
As a deaf person, he was brought on board to provide a lens of inclusivity into ocean and climate storytelling – something notoriously lacking in every part of the world.
“Disability representation in climate action is so important,” he told Al Jazeera. “Because the climate crisis does not discriminate. It affects everyone. It also impacts the lives of people with disabilities just as much, if not more than any other person. When you keep people with disabilities on the outside – away from climate work – you also lose out on a huge resource pool of knowledge and talent.”
Although people with disabilities constitute 15 percent of the world’s population, climate action, including at the global multilateral level, has neglected to fully reflect their rights.
While recognised as one of the groups most acutely affected by climate change, they have been largely excluded from decision-making processes and outcomes under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as from individual states’ climate change policies and plans at the domestic level.
The International Disability Alliance in 2021 highlighted the fact that people with disabilities were being left behind in relief efforts and response efforts due to inaccessible disaster plans, systemic discrimination and widespread poverty.
“Part of what we hope will captivate readers in this book series is the diversity of characters,” explained Sakiusa. “One of my favourites is the story, Scaredy-cat Moli. Moli discovers a small shark trapped in a rockpool and follows her adventures. Contrary to what others have told her for a long time, Moli soon discovers that she is a lot braver than the world thinks, and readers also learn through illustrations that Moli is a child with Down’s Syndrome.”
The effects of climate change – from rapid-onset disasters such as typhoons and wildfires, to more gradual changes such as droughts, rising temperatures and higher sea levels – have disproportionate effects on the lives, wellbeing, and livelihoods of persons with disabilities all over the world. Particularly severe are the consequences for those in the disability community who experience discrimination in multiple forms, including older persons, Indigenous peoples, and women.
Scaredy-cat Moli tells the story of Moli, who has Down’s Syndrome and everyone she isn’t the scaredy-cat they think she is after discovering a shark in an ocean pool [Joni Moce/Asia Foundation]A UNESCO-led research program on the impact of the Tropical Cyclone PamThe 2018 cyclone that hit Vanuatu left behind almost two-and-a-half times as many people with disabilities. It was even worse for women. The study showed that disabled men had greater access to recovery and response efforts than disabled women. However, services for the disabled were more likely to be affected.
The International Disability Alliance focuses on the many benefits of including people with disabilities in communication about climate action and storytelling. It also emphasizes the importance of including people with disabilities in decision-making.
The Fijian Ten-Book Series is expected to be made available online within the next few days via Let’s ReadA free digital library for kids. The books will appear in English, as well as in the nation’s two main vernacular languages – iTaukei and Fiji Hindi. For those who are blind or learning to read, there will be audiobooks.
Reflecting on the unique Fijian origin of these stories, the Asia Foundation’s Sobey harbours a personal hope.
“To see their own lives reflected in these books and to read them in their mother tongue is part of being culturally visible in a world where people from small island states often feel invisible. All of us in the BookLab hope that these ten original stories, in the three main languages of Fiji, will awaken a passion for reading in primary school children and perhaps give birth to a new generation of writers and illustrators who will tell their nation’s tales.”
