Women from four Fijian communities will share their lived experiences of climate-related planned relocation during a Germany Embassy in Fiji side event at the Pre-COP31 Stakeholder Engagement Programme in Nadi next Monday.
The “Amplifying Voices of Relocation” event will bring together women and elders from Nabavatu, Narikoso, Vunidavo and Nayavuira to discuss how relocation has affected their land, livelihoods, culture, identity, families and sense of belonging.
Their experiences have been documented through the Community Climate Talks and compiled into a documentary that will be screened during the 45-minute session at the Sofitel Fiji Resort in Nadi.
The event is being convened by the German Embassy in Fiji in cooperation with GIZ Pacific through the Global Programme on Human Mobility in the Context of Climate Change, SauVaka Culture Consultancy and Tabualuma Media Production.
Head of Delegation of the Federal Republic of Germany, Secretary of State Jochen Flasbarth says planned relocation is ultimately about people, communities and the places they call home.
Flasbarth says Germany’s engagement on climate mobility in Fiji is grounded in listening to people living through these realities, and the event aims to ensure community perspectives help inform wider discussions on climate mobility.
The four communities featured in the documentary have had different experiences with relocation.
Narikoso in Kadavu partially relocated more than a decade ago, Nabavatu in Macuata is currently undergoing relocation, while Vunidavo in Namosi relocated through community efforts in the early 1980s. Nayavuira in Ra has chosen not to relocate.
GIZ Pacific representative Anina Vontobel says women are not only experiencing the impacts of relocation but also carry knowledge, responsibilities and perspectives that are essential to understanding what successful and inclusive relocation means.
The event will be held from 4.30pm to 5.15pm on next Monday, as part of the Pre-COP31 Stakeholder Engagement Programme.
