Page 27 - Respond 2018 Magazine

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Tony de Brum invited 18-year-old Selina Leem to give the Marshall Islands closing statement at the critical Paris climate summit. Negotiators
including the US’ Todd Stern wore coconut leaves in solidarity with island states (Photo: IISD/ENB | Kiara Worth)
parliament in a cutthroat federal election. It was in this role In reality, the business of registering ships operated out of
that he became a prominent voice in the global response to Virginia, US, with little benefit to islanders. But it relied on
climate change. the Marshallese government for legitimacy and de Brum
knew leverage when he saw it. He shocked the registry’s
Mirroring his nuclear diplomacy, de Brum relentlessly representatives to the International Maritime Organization
pursued justice in the climate arena. The Marshall Islands in 2015 by claiming the country’s seat to make an
are low-lying atolls, especially vulnerable to climate change. impassioned plea for emissions reductions at sea.
It is thought that an increase of 2C, for years the widely
accepted upper limit of “safe” warming, would cause enough His intervention shook up the industry-dominated forum,
sea level rise to make the Marshall Islands uninhabitable. launching a – still slow – process of setting climate goals that
King tides already cause mayhem as they sweep through has been taken up by other island leaders.
villages and crops.
De Brum’s canny political mind – forged amid the ruthless
Outgunned by vast economic and political forces, again island politics of his home country – was central to the
and again de Brum returned to the key moral argument of establishment of the “high ambition coalition”. This group
climate change: how can the countries that have created the of likeminded nations met in secret on the side of climate
problem allow his country to suffer? In this refrain, he was negotiations throughout 2015 before breaking cover at a
able to draw from the nuclear politics that forged his youth critical moment during the Paris climate talks at the end of
and world view. that year.

The appeal to justice afforded de Brum, and representatives “1.5 to stay alive” was de Brum’s catchphrase at the Paris
of other small, vulnerable countries, a status conference. He assured the world that the Marshall Islands
disproportionate to their tiny populations and GDP. would no longer exist if the agreement only limited the
world to 2C of warming. Yet many scientists believe the goal
Other atoll nations have begun to make heavy-hearted to be quixotic. With global temperatures already 1C above
evacuation plans. But de Brum, remembering the effects of average and climbing rapidly, the window is closing for the
nuclear dislocation, would never countenance this thought. Marshall Islands.

“Displacement is not an option we relish or cherish and we The intervention of the coalition contributed to a last minute
will not operate on that basis. We will operate on the basis push for a stronger deal, which succeeded in scripting a
that we can in fact help to prevent this from happening,” lower temperature limit of 1.5C into the final agreement
he told the Guardian in 2015. Ever the operator, he also in December 2015. The inclusion was an unexpected
regarded this as a fine way to give away your bargaining diplomatic victory and in it de Brum can be credited with
position at climate negotiations. chipping out a fingernail hold for his country’s future.

While speaking truth to power, de Brum did not neglect his For the Marshall Islands’ closing statement in Paris, he ceded
country’s own rogue industry: shipping. During his lifetime, the floor to 18-year-old Selina Leem. “This Agreement should
the island became the second largest flag registry in the be the turning point in our story; a turning point for all of
world, enabling a lightly regulated sector with a growing us,” she told an emotional room.
carbon footprint.
On his islands, de Brum leaves behind a wife, three children,
ten grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

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