𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐮: First Nations lead 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜

4d • NEWS

This past week

hosted on behalf of the Agency of Women, along side Mary Jack, First Nations Elder and founder of Vanuatu’s first grassroots women’s representative body two events at University of Technology Sydney for Climate Action Week Sydney (CAWS), where frontline voices directly confronted the realities of systems change and climate justice.

A provocative panel featuring First Nations Australian Polly Cutmore and Bianca McNeair alongside Milly Thomas, Heidi Dumesich and Miia Barrow provided the stimulus to explore the raw realities women face on the climate frontlines.

Grounded by Mary’s reality checks, Dr Leila Alem led a systems transformation workshop based on this real-world case study. Participants mapped power dynamics, funding cycles, and the unseen labour of women carrying the burden of resilience efforts across 65 remote islands.

THE KEY 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: Meaningful climate intervention starts with listening and providing the resources women need to lead. "Women are not just beneficiaries of climate action; they are its architects." Lived knowledge builds far more durable solutions.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭: Workshop outputs will feed into the Sydney Statement on Pacific-Led Climate Resilience, to be delivered to DFAT and the UNFCCC Gender Secretariat by June 2026.

🌊 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐥

"𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥."

Following an acknowledgement of country by Polly Cutmore, frontline voices from Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Indonesia, and Australia addressed the difficult questions: Who bears the burden of the crisis? Who holds the power? And what is Australia's moral responsibility?

Grounded by documentaries on Tuvalu and Jakarta, the panel proved climate change is a present-day emergency, not a future threat.

To our Pacific community members you may be interested to join the Mitingar campaign

@Heidi Robins

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