Oceania climate issues raised at international gathering

Alongside Catholic partners from throughout the world, Martin de Jong spoke at a UN press conference during the Bonn Climate Change Conference in Germany this month. The conference, attended by government representatives, is helping to set the stage for the 31st UN Climate Change Conference (or COP31) in Turkey in November.

Mr de Jong brought the Oceania region’s perspective into the global conversation on climate finance. His message was clear and urgent: Climate finance is not charity, it is justice. Communities across the Pacific and beyond are already facing the impacts of climate change, rising seas, extreme weather and threats to livelihoods and culture despite contributing least to the crisis, he explained.

Together with the Network of Catholic Climate and Environment Actors, Caritas is calling for fair and accessible climate finance that is focused on grants, not loans; a just transition away from fossil fuels; real support for communities facing loss and damage; climate action rooted in dignity, solidarity and care for our common home.

Before the Bonn conference, the Caritas Climate Justice Working Group brought together representatives from seven regions – Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, Oceania and North America – in Rome to reflect and consider strategy on climate justice.

Mr de Jong represented Aotearoa New Zealand and Oceania at this gathering, which reaffirmed the importance of keeping the voices of vulnerable communities at the centre of climate action. Conversations covered climate finance, adaptation, loss and damage, just transition and water and biodiversity justice as core pillars of shared advocacy.

The meeting closed with an external dialogue bringing together members of the diplomatic community in Rome, partner organisations and participants from around the world, exploring the implications of shifting multilateralism for climate justice and key issues to elevate in the Conference of the Parties/United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) processes.

There was strong recognition of the value of Caritas as a unified global voice, bringing lived experiences and frontline realities into global climate advocacy spaces.

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