Talanoa Dialogue: Voices from the Unaccredited

8 September 2018

While you deliberate on item 5: (section D.5,7 & 8) in the air-conditioned ESCAP conference centre, Where Are We?

We are on the front line of climate breakdown. As people of faith and people of conscience, we are struggling in our moral obligation to care for the poor and vulnerable, provide for our children and respect our inheritance.

We are facilitating Talanoa Dialogues in South Sudan, Somalia, Bangladesh, Mali, Niger, Afghanistan, Tunisia, Kenya.

The Fiji presidency has promised that these stories and suggestions will be put before the governments who are committed to the Paris Agreement as they draw up their new 5 year plans and promises for combatting climate change.

While you decide where to go for green curry after hours of negotiation, Where Do We Want To Go?

We want to see people stay in their homes, secure in their livelihoods, building for the future and ready and able to overcome the next set of shocks and disruption.

We want people to be listened to and their concerns and suggestions be acted upon.

We want people to be party to solutions with their insights and knowledge accumulated into national plans rather than their being planned for and told what todoandhowtodoit.

We want to be in a place where our struggle contributes to and benefits from others” efforts to address the causes of climate breakdown, distress and suffering.

As you take a climate destroying flight to the next conference (nice in SF this time of year), How Do We Get There?

Talanoa Dialogue is our chance, and the chance for others like us, to take action now by bringing people together to share stories, build empathy and to make wise decisions for the collective good. People can take part in a Talanoa with the knowledge they have, sharing ideas, skills and experience through storytelling.

Before COP24 we will be submitting ideas about how the world community can best deliver on its responsibilities to support our efforts to adapt to the challenges we are facing, and build resilience for those we are yet to face them.

We won’t make it to Katowice but the Talanoa Dialogue is our badge. Listen for our presentation.

We will await your response.