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Focus on rural realities – A climate change appeal from Ambon to Egypt
As young people, we are worried about a crisis that we did not create but one that we have to live with.
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Loud and clear: Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest outside the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. (AFP/Getty Images/Mohammed Abed)
T
he timing could not have been better, as governments and stakeholders are now gathering in Egypt for the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27). I want to send my message across the oceans to those making big promises at the annual event. I only want my thoughts and concerns about Ambon, the small island I grew up on, to be heard.
Most people in the far-flung Maluku islands in the eastern part of Indonesia depend on agriculture and fisheries for their livelihood. Our lives rely on nature. For us, environmental threats are not distant realities – they are an ever-present and massive danger.
We are struggling with rising sea levels, extreme weather, poor waste management and coastal area destruction. Families feel unsafe in homes that offer little protection from disasters. We are sweltering under the effect of hotter temperatures.
Indonesia is among the top 50 countries in the world where children are most at risk from the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation, such as floods and droughts, rising sea levels, shifts in rainfall patterns and increasing temperatures. Around 51 million households live in disaster-prone areas that leave them highly vulnerable. Air pollution is one of the top 10 risk factors for death of children under five years of age.
From rural areas like mine to urban centers across Indonesia, the climate crisis is rapidly intensifying. If current trends continue, rising sea levels will contribute to coastal erosion and floods, exposing coastal populations like mine to grave risks such as permanent inundation of settlements and salinization.
The more I begin to grasp what this means for the lives and future of my community – and for all Indonesians – the more scared I become. And so I decided to convert my fear into action. I decided to do whatever I could within my power to prevent any further damage in Maluku.
Last year, I started the #TarusJagaRumah campaign as a way for the Moluccan youth to collaborate on climate action. Since then, we have taken concrete actions such as planting trees and mangroves, organizing beach clean-ups, sharing saplings with the local people, campaigning, educating the public and much more.
