‘We Will Bear the Brunt’ - Pacific Youth Urged to take responsibility, Wake Up to Climate Reality

Pacific youth must face the hard truth that they will inherit the worst impacts of climate change and take responsibility for shaping a resilient future, says Samoan climate activist Brianna Fruean.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Pacific Loss and Damage dialogue, Ms Fruean said young Pacific leaders must be at the forefront of decisions on loss and damage because they are the ones who will live through the harshest consequences.

International Youth Day was also observed at the opening of the dialogue currently held in Apia, Samoa.

“Our young people will bear the biggest brunt of what we will lose and what will be damaged,” Ms Fruean said.

“We hold the responsibility to be in this conversation today, to be planning for tomorrow because this is our region and we will be the caretakers of it.”

She said young Pacific leaders must be at the forefront of decisions on loss and damage because they are the ones who will live through the harshest consequences.

“When the future does come and the harshest impacts of climate change is experienced by our young people, they need to be ready,” she said.

Ms Fruean noted that today’s youth are more technologically connected than previous generations, giving them unique tools to innovate climate solutions.

“They have access to AI, to streaming platforms, to a connected world online that's so different from the past 10 years. Those ideas that will come out of the digital space will also inform how we react to loss and damage and how we respond to disaster,” she said.

The activist also backed the proposal for an Australia–Pacific COP, saying it would bring climate talks closer to the region and make participation easier for Pacific islanders.

“If we're not seen and we're not heard, we're forgotten,” she said.

“If it’s in Australia, it just opens the door to so much more access for our young people to get there… we would have more voices in Australia than we would in Turkey.”

Her message to Pacific youth was clear: “Unfortunately we will be living with the worst consequences of climate change. It’s me, you, all of our brothers and sisters, we're on this ‘vaka’ (canoe) together… the experience we will have will be much different from our parents and our grandparents.”