The open letter has outlined the three climate actions in the wake of the recent Nepal-Tibet flood disaster. Scientists have attributed the floods and other similar events recurring across the Himalayas to global warming that is melting glaciers and thawing permafrost.
The open letter, signed by 57 organisations including Australian Conservation Foundation, Oxfam Australia, Amnesty International, ActionAid Australia and Greenpeace, asks the Government to urgently stop approving new fossil fuel projects which are driving climate change, such as Whitehaven Coal’s Winchester South (half a billion tonnes of carbon pollution), Glencore’s Hunter Valley Operations continuation project (800 million tonnes) and Woodside’s Browse gas project (1.6 billion tonnes) and the Beetaloo basin.
It also asks the Government to commit to paying its fair share of climate finance for developing countries such as Nepal so they aren’t left with billions of dollars in debt from the disaster, and to end all fossil fuel subsidies and make big polluters pay for their climate damage. The Australian Government provides around $14.5 billion in fossil fuel subsidies per year – in comparison, it only provides around $1.3 billion to support climate adaptation, mitigation and loss and damage responses in our region and globally.
Senator Mehreen Faruqi, who joined the announcement at Parliament House today, said:
“The Global North’s insatiable greed for digging up and burning coal, oil, and gas is resulting in climate catastrophe after climate catastrophe, with the Global South bearing the brunt of these climate disasters.”
“Due to global warming, Himalayan glaciers are melting and collapsing, wreaking havoc, death, and destruction downstream.”
“After thousands of people were buried in mud and sludge in Nepal and Tibet, Prime Minister Albanese was quick to say ‘now is not the time’ to talk about climate change. At the same time, his government has now approved 37 coal, oil, and gas projects. These climate bombs are wrecking the planet and its people, and those who did the least to create this crisis are on the front lines.”
“As one of the largest exporters of fossil fuels, Australia has a responsibility to take strong action on climate and support those bearing the worst consequences. That means ending new coal, oil and gas. It means paying our fair share of climate finance. And it means ending fossil fuel subsidies to corporations cooking up the planet.”
“The PM must choose people and the planet over fossil fuel profits.”
Michelle Higelin, Executive Director at ActionAid Australia, said:
“Nepal and Tibet have experienced a catastrophic flash flood, and as a polluting country Australia can’t pretend it has nothing to do with us. That’s why we’re calling on the Australian Government to take these urgent climate actions, because communities should not be forced to foot the bill for a climate crisis they did little to create. COP31 is in a few months – Australia can’t call itself a climate leader on the world stage while approving more coal and gas projects and pushing developing countries further into debt that they cannot recover from.”
Dr Radha Wagle, a member of the Nepalese Association of Agriculture, Forestry and Environment in Australia, said:
“The current climate disaster is taking everything away from local communities who did nothing to cause it. As a small and vulnerable country in the world’s Third Pole, Nepal, including other mountainous countries, is facing the harshest impacts of a crisis they did not create. Nepal and the impacted countries need justifiable compensation from the wealthy countries and big emitters, not just humanitarian relief, so they can recover, rebuild and adapt with dignity.”
Kyinzom Dhongdue, a Tibetan human rights advocate and Strategy and Advocacy Manager at Amnesty International Australia, said:
“This disaster is a stark reminder that what happens in Tibet does not stay in Tibet. As the source of many of Asia’s great rivers, sustaining around 1.4 billion people downstream, what happens to its glaciers, rivers and fragile ecosystems has consequences far beyond Tibet. Yet while we saw heartbreaking images from Nepal, Tibetans have been left in the dark about what happened across the border in Chinese-occupied Tibet. This lack of access is not only a human rights concern – it makes it harder for the world to respond to climate change unfolding across the Himalayas. And at the very moment people in Nepal and Tibet were facing this tragedy, Australia was approving a 30-year extension of a coal mine. Every new coal and gas project adds to a climate crisis that is already putting people’s rights to life, health, housing and security at risk. Australia must put people before fossil fuel profits and phase out coal and gas, including exports.”
Dr. Ruchira Talukdar, Director of Sapna South Asian Climate Solidarity, a climate justice collective in Australia’s South Asian diaspora, said:
“In the absence of adequate climate finance from wealthy countries like Australia, migrant diasporas such as from Nepal do the heavy lifting on making funds for post-disaster recovery possible. Nepalese and other South Asians together make up Australia’s largest migrant group, sending increasing amounts of remittances for supporting communities as climate disasters recur across South Asia. Australia needs to recognise its responsibility towards South Asia”
The full list of signatories to the open letter are: Amnesty International Australia, Oxfam Australia, ActionAid Australia, Climate Action Network Australia, Sapna South Asian Climate Solidarity, Australian Conservation Foundation, Greenpeace Australia Pacific, Plan International Australia, Australian Council for International Development, 350 Australia, Climate for Change, Transparency International Australia, Friends of the Earth Australia, Climate Justice Union, Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network, Angligreen – Anglican Church Southern Queensland, Social Responsibilities Committee, Anglican Church Southern Queensland, YCAN – Yarra Climate Action Now, Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action, 1 Million Women, The Climate Reality Project Australia & Pacific, Make Big Polluters Pay Alliance, Green Music Australia, Currie Country Social Change, Peoples Climate Assembly, ACF Community Canberra, Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC), Renew, Glen Eira Emergency Climate Action Network, ECOMIND, Darebin Climate Action Now, Nillumbik Climate Action Team, Jubilee Australia Research Centre, Muslim Aid Australia, Parents For Climate, Results International (Australia), Women’s Environmental Leadership Australia, International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA), Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Environment Centre North Territory, Habitat for Humanity Australia, The Sunrise Project Australia, Anglican Overseas Aid, Conservation Council of Western Australia, Common Grace, Indigenous Peoples’ Organisation-Australia, Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health (WATCH), Lighter Footprints, Solar Citizens, Climate Action Monaro, Sweltering Cities, Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Caritas Australia, Women’s Climate Congress, Human Rights Law Centre, Oceania Youth Climate Negotiation Network, Climate Integrity.
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A copy of the open letter is available here.
The following spokespeople are available for comment:
- Michelle Higelin – Executive Director, ActionAid Australia
- Dr Radha Wagle – Nepalese Association of Agriculture, Forestry and Environment in Australia
- Kyinzom Dhongdue – Tibetan human rights advocate and Strategy and Advocacy Manager at Amnesty International Australia
For further information and to arrange interviews please contact:
Stephanie Wulf – Senior Communications Manager, ActionAid Australia
[email protected]
0456 952 836