‘My country would disappear’: climate crisis could force Torres Strait Islanders from homes within 30 years
Large parts of islands could be uninhabitable by 2050, federal court told in first climate class action taken by Australian First Nations people Torres Strait Islanders could be forced to leave their homes within the next 30 years if urgent action is not taken on the climate crisis. This would mean a loss of country, sacred sites and culture , the federal court has been told. Uncle Paul Kabai, from the low-lying Saibai Island, said in an affidavit read to the court in Cairns on Monday that he was scared of having to leave his country. My country would disappear, he said. I would lose everything; my country, my culture, my stories and my identity. Without Saibai I do not know who I am. Kabai and Uncle Pabai Pabai are leading the first climate class action brought by Australian First Nations people. The Torres Strait Island elders launched the court action in 2021, faced with rising sea levels and fearing their communities could become Australias first climate refugees. Sign up for Guardian Australias free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup They are arguing the commonwealth owes a duty of care to Torres Strait Islanders to take reasonable steps to protect them from the harms caused by global heating. Large parts of the islands could be uninhabitable by 2050, forcing Torres Strait Islanders to leave their ancestral homelands, lead counsel for Kabai and Pabai, Fiona McLeod, said in closing submissions. This case concerns an incontrovertible truth ... our First People in the Torres Strait will be brutally impacted by climate change and they will have and will continue to suffer devastating losses, McLeod said. Potentially in the lifetimes of these two elders Pabai Pabai and Paul Kabai ... they will face the losses of their precious lands and waters, their ancient and proud traditions, the mass extinction of species including totemic creatures, their ability to practise ceremony on country and the resting places and the remains of their ancestors. Sign up to Morning Mail Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you whats happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The court held on-country hearings on Badu, Boigu and Saibai islands in 2023, while scientists and other expert witnesses gave evidence in Melbourne in November. Aunty McRose Elu, who is also part of the class action, said she has seen her ancestral homelands on Saibai Island inundated with water over decades. As you go through the area when you fly over its very frightening, Elu said outside court. Now you can see more water than land but people live there. Elu said at the case is about the continued existence of Torres Strait Islander people and their homelands. What were fighting for is survival, she said. We want to save our islands, we dont want our islands to go under the water. Thats why its important to me, we think about the young people who are yet to come ... I dont want them to see that they have no land and no island. The federal court will sit in Cairns until Friday, with the commonwealths closing submissions expected to follow McLeods.