8.11.24
What Happens Next?
Will Climate Change Wipe Out the Indo-Pacific? | 96

Explore the mounting climate challenges facing the Indo-Pacific, Monash University’s home and a region at the frontline of the global environmental crisis. Rising sea levels, extreme weather events and record-breaking heat are reshaping the lives of millions, but these issues are more than just numbers and projections—they’re personal, cultural and immediate.

Host Dr Susan Carland speaks with experts from Monash, including Professor Tony Capon, Dr Gabriel García Ochoa, Dr Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson, Dr Elissa Waters and Professor Christian Jakob. Together, they discuss why the Indo-Pacific’s unique vulnerabilities demand urgent action and how the stories we tell about climate change impact our willingness to act.

Dr García Ochoa highlights the power—and dangers—of storytelling, explaining how compelling but simplified narratives can either inspire change or undermine it. Dr Jackson shares the deeply personal cost of climate impacts on Pacific Island communities, whose connection to the land is both cultural and ancestral. Meanwhile, Dr Waters calls for nuanced narratives that recognise the resilience and rights of Pacific Islanders, emphasising that adaptation, not just relocation, is key.

As COP29 approaches, this episode calls for global attention on the Indo-Pacific’s fight for survival.

A full transcript of this episode is available on Monash Lens.

Learn more:

• Why Are We So Anxious About Earth? – Monash University 
• What Happens Next?: Is Australia Behind in the Critical Minerals Race? – Monash University 
• The impact of climate change on human health – Monash Lens 

“What Happens Next?” will be back next week with part two of this series, ‘Can Good Stories Help Save the Planet?’.

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