WE ARE RESILIENT PEOPLE Vulnerability in the Context of the Pacific
By Rev. Sepiuta Hala’api’api, Diocesan Secretary and Registrar for the Anglican Diocese of Polynesia Born to Tongan missionary parents and raised in Fiji, Rev. Sepiuta Hala’api’api is one of the few young women in ordained ministry. Prior to her current role as the Diocesan Secretary and Registrar for the Anglican Diocese of Polynesia, she served as the Diocesan Youth Director for her Diocese, as well as worked with the World Council of Churches’ Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA). She is passionate about preaching, music, and caring for God’s Creation. She also loves to travel.
Pacific Climate Warriors
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ach day of our journey, as individuals, and as a community, we face vulnerabilities – whereby we are exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally. There are different types of vulnerability, which includes social, cognitive, environmental, emotional or military. Since early 2020, two years ago, the Pacific region – Oceania, has been exposed to the global pandemic, The Coronavirus (Covid-19) and its variants. To date, only two island nations, atolls, remain with no recorded Covid-19 cases – Nauru and Tuvalu. However, even before the global pandemic came about, our island nations in the Pacific region, has been dealing with an even bigger, longstanding challenge – the environmental challenge of Global Warming – an environmental vulnerability. Our Pacific Islands are extremely vulnerable to climate change. The most substantial impacts of climate change include losses of coastal infrastructure and land, more intense cyclones and droughts, failure of subsistence crops and coastal fisheries, losses of coral reefs and mangroves, changing and unpredictable seasonal patterns, and the spread of certain diseases. The Cyclone season in Fiji, ranges from mid-October to mid-April every year. Due to the changing climate conditions, we have experienced more intense tropical cyclones during this period. Growing up, I only knew a tropical cyclone by the name it was given. Ever since Tropical Cyclone rampaged Fiji in February 2016, we have become familiar with the different categories of cyclones, the higher the category, the more intense and destructive, the cyclone. Due to the more frequent tropical cyclones, we have had to experience the changing seasonal patterns of crops and fruits locally grown. Due to the frequent tropical cyclones, our islands suffer from consistent clean drinking water and power supply. Due to the tropical cyclones, we are vulnerable.
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