Pacific climate change adaptation advocate, UC graduate Seanoa Junior Harry Leiataua, is making sure his region’s challenges are being addressed.
Seanoa, who has just graduated from Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC) with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Political Science and International Relations and a minor in Human Resources Management, says rising sea levels are flooding coastal villages and washing away land, homes and crops. Stronger cyclones are causing more damage and making recovery harder for communities each year.
Now working in Samoa as a Research Policy Planning Development Officer and a long-time climate advocate, Seanoa is helping shape responses to the very challenges he’s witnessed growing up.
“The natural environment is changing quickly. Saltwater is entering freshwater and farmland, making it difficult to grow traditional foods. Warmer oceans are damaging coral reefs, which affects fishing and food supply for our aigas (families),” Seanoa explains.
“In Samoa, land is deeply connected to culture and heritage. Losing land means losing history, traditions, and important cultural sites. We’re losing our identity.
“Displacement makes this worse. When people move away, it becomes harder to keep language and traditions alive, especially for younger generations living in the other parts of the world,” Seanoa says.
But he believes that Samoan communities are resilient, continuing to adapt and speak out, working to protect both their environment and cultural identity.
Seanoa has belonged to Pacific Youth Activists for Climate Change since 2019 and has since travelled to several Pacific Islands and other parts of the world arguing the Pacific region’s case.
“I've joined several groups drafting policies for our communities to help our fight to gain climate justice, not just for the benefit of Samoa and the Pacific but for vulnerable countries as well.
“It's important to me because it's the reality that we Pacific people are living in at the moment. I've seen the impact of climate change on my people and the environment, I've seen the never-ending efforts from communities to come up with solutions, I've seen the loss of my identity as a son of Samoa and as a son of the Pacific through climate change and its effect,” Seanoa says.
“Our Pacific people are the caretakers of the largest ocean in the world and yet we're harvesting the evil impacts of climate change even though we contribute less than one per cent of those gas emissions.”
Before embarking on his studies at UC in 2023, Seanoa divided his time between Samoa and Ōtautahi and plans to return to UC to undertake a Master in International Relations, to strengthen his ability to advocate for Samoa and the wider Pacific on the global stage.
