The opinion contest helps amplify the voices of youth during the annual Global Development Conference.
What was the 2024 Opinion Essay Contest about?
Climate Resilience in My Community
The GDC Climate Opinion Essay Contest 2024 encouraged undergraduate and graduate students from countries in the Pacific and Southeast Asian regions to reflect on climate change. Participants were invited to submit essays exploring the impacts, challenges, and potential local solutions to climate change within their communities or the broader global context. The contest aimed to foster a deeper understanding of climate resilience and inspire action on this critical issue, aligning with its 2024 theme: Climate Resilience in My Community.
First Prize: The winners in each category (PhD, Masters and Undergraduate) were awarded a fully funded trip to attend the Global Development Conference 2024 (GDC 2024) in Suva, Fiji. They had the opportunity to network with global leaders in climate research and policy and participate in capacity-building workshops.
Other Recognitions: The top three finalists in each category received certificates of achievement for their contributions, and the winning essays were featured on official communication channels.
Additionally, three young individuals from Island Nations were selected to attend a forum at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation in Tokyo in March 2025, held alongside the World Ocean Summit. These participants were chosen by the SPF team based on the quality of their essays and their backgrounds. However, attendance at the Summit in Japan was not guaranteed for contest winners; only those selected by SPF were invited.
The awards ceremony took place during GDC 2024 in Suva, Fiji.
Climate Opinion Essay Winners Gavin Smith (left) and Sangita Devi Maharaj (right) with GDN team representative Pablo J. Varela (centre) during the awards ceremony took place during GDC 2024 in Suva, Fiji.
Winning Essays
PhD Category Winners
Myanmar, ranked as the second most vulnerable nation to climate change globally, faces a dual crisis of environmental threats and persistent political instability. With 70% of its population residing in climate-sensitive areas, the nation’s reliance on monsoons and agriculture further heightens its susceptibility to climate impacts. Internal conflicts and weakened governance, exacerbated by the 2021 military coup, have disrupted community resilience and undermined environmental governance, leaving communities exposed to both natural and human-made disasters. The devastation caused by extreme events, such as Cyclone Nargis (2008), Cyclone Mocha (2023), and Typhoon Yagi (2024), exemplifies the urgent need for climate action amidst widespread displacement and casualties.
The compounding effects of conflict, weak institutions, and climate change reinforce socioeconomic vulnerabilities and injustices, as seen in cases like Chaung Hpyar village, where unregulated mining and weak accountability mechanisms led to catastrophic flooding. However, amidst these challenges, Myanmar’s enduring social capital offers hope. Stories of empathy and community-driven efforts, such as local NGOs fostering resilience and federal values, demonstrate the potential to address converging humanitarian and climate crises.
Love and Empathy – the last social frontier for hopeful resilience in the face of climate and multiple crisis in Myanmar underscores the critical need for integrated, community-centric climate and humanitarian responses, advocating for increased accountability and support for grassroots initiatives to restore resilience in conflict-affected regions.
Indonesia’s Thousand Islands face mounting threats from climate-induced challenges like sea level rise, saltwater intrusion, and extreme weather. Coastal erosion and annual subsidence, exacerbated by groundwater extraction, imperil ecosystems and communities dependent on tourism and marine resources. Significant biodiversity—including coral reefs and mangroves—is at risk, threatening vital habitats and coastal protection. Seaweed farming emerges as a climate-resilient livelihood, mitigating starvation risks while aiding carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation.
Adaptation strategies include integrated coastal management, mangrove and coral reef restoration, and promotion of salt-tolerant crops like seaweed. Innovative solutions like seawalls, elevated homes, and sustainable agriculture are essential. Local knowledge integration, enhanced disaster response, and stakeholder collaboration remain central to overcoming resource and institutional barriers. Building Climate Resilience in Indonesia’s Thousand Islands: Adapting to Sea Level Rise and Protecting Coastal Agriculture and Local Biodiversity underscores regional cooperation’s importance in addressing sea level rise impacts, advancing resilience, and safeguarding biodiversity and food security.
In response to the escalating climate crisis, there is an urgent need to integrate climate change education into school curricula, particularly in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like Tonga. These nations are vulnerable to rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and environmental degradation, directly affecting local livelihoods, food security, and biodiversity. Despite some efforts to initiate climate change education, challenges such as inadequate resources, political resistance, and lack of expertise hinder effective integration into national curricula.
Should climate change be mainstreamed in the education curricula? advocates for a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary approach to climate education that incorporates Indigenous knowledge and fosters global citizenship. The concepts of ‘Ofa Fonua (love, loyalty, and respect for the environment), Pukepuke Fonua (ownership of the land), and Tauhi Fonua (custodian stewardship) are central to cultivating responsibility and action among students. By encouraging practical initiatives like community clean-ups and renewable energy projects, this approach empowers youth to become active participants in climate solutions.
To enhance resilience and sustainability, educational frameworks must align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4.7.1 and 13.3.1, to equip students with the skills and knowledge needed to confront climate challenges. Immediate action is required to reshape curricula, fostering a new generation of informed global citizens committed to environmental stewardship.
Masters Category Winners
Navua, a town on Fiji’s main island of Viti Levu, faces severe climate impacts such as frequent flooding, cyclones, and coastal erosion. These challenges, estimated to cost Fiji USD 79.6 million annually due to flooding and tropical cyclones, have driven local adaptation efforts aimed at building resilience. Key strategies include flood control infrastructure, such as river dredging and the installation of rock walls and gates, alongside the promotion of climate-smart agriculture, like crop diversification and agroforestry, to bolster food security amidst unpredictable weather.
The role of women in climate resilience is highlighted, with women-led initiatives such as home gardening and disaster preparedness training improving community self-reliance and coping mechanisms. Environmental conservation efforts, including mangrove reforestation, contribute to reducing coastal erosion, enhancing biodiversity, and combating climate change by sequestering carbon. Additionally, local awareness campaigns, led by NGOs and government agencies, have trained communities in disaster preparedness, early warning systems, and sustainable agricultural practices.
While ongoing support from international programs, such as the Pacific Resilience Program (PREP), provides technical and financial aid to improve disaster preparedness, the growing displacement of families due to climate impacts underscores the need for comprehensive solutions integrating climate adaptation with social protection measures. Climate Resilience in Navua showcases how community-driven resilience initiatives, including infrastructure, sustainable farming, and environmental conservation, can provide a model for other vulnerable regions.
The Philippines faces severe climate challenges, including frequent typhoons, flooding, and property damage, exacerbated by climate change. While Filipinos are renowned for their resilience—rooted in cultural values like Bayanihan, strong family ties, and optimism—this mindset may also present drawbacks in addressing the underlying causes of climate impacts. Resilience fosters a sense of hope, but it may create false expectations that future disasters can be weathered without systemic changes. This mindset can detract from the urgency required in implementing effective climate policies, leading to insufficient mitigation efforts and poorly executed flood control projects, as seen during Typhoon Carina in 2024.
Despite these challenges, resilience can be leveraged as a tool for strengthening climate action. By engaging local and indigenous communities in climate solutions—such as sustainable farming practices like bamboo and cacao planting—and collaborating with international organisations, the Philippines can enhance its efforts to combat climate change. Educational initiatives that empower communities are also essential for enabling informed participation in climate resilience activities.
Katatagan sa Gitna ng Delubyo: Exploring the cons of Filipino Resilience and its power to combat Climate Change emphasises that while Filipino resilience is an important cultural asset, it must be reconsidered in the context of climate policy. Strengthened education, better community engagement, and increased international partnerships will enhance policy effectiveness and prepare the country for a more sustainable future. Resilience should be seen as a coping mechanism and part of a broader, collective approach to confronting the climate crisis.
Promoting Disaster-Resilient Infrastructure in Indonesia’s Coastal Cities Against Extreme Heat Events Using Innovative Cooling Technologies explores the vulnerability of Indonesia’s coastal cities, such as Jakarta, to extreme heat events due to climate change and rapid urbanisation. These cities are increasingly susceptible to the urban heat island (UHI) effect, which exacerbates public health risks, economic instability, and quality of life. The paper highlights several innovative cooling technologies that can mitigate these heat impacts, including reflective cool roofs, green roofs, urban greening initiatives, phase change materials (PCMs), and reflective pavements.
It further examines energy-efficient systems such as district cooling, smart grids, and water-based solutions like fountains and misting systems. By integrating these strategies into urban infrastructure, cities can reduce their thermal loads, lower energy consumption, and improve livability. The importance of collaboration among policymakers, architects, and communities is emphasised in fostering the adoption of these technologies for a sustainable and resilient future.
Masters Category Winners
Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Coastal Protection: Building Climate Resilience in My Pacific Island Community explores how rising sea levels, coastal erosion, and extreme weather threaten my community’s coastal areas and ecosystems. To counter these challenges, we are combining traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) with modern science to restore mangrove forests, protect coral reefs, and sustainably manage marine resources, boosting climate resilience.
Mangrove forests are essential in reducing wave energy and preventing erosion. By integrating TEK, where elders teach planting and care methods, with modern technologies like satellite mapping, we’ve successfully restored these forests, protecting shorelines and reducing storm surge impacts.
Similarly, coral reefs offer protection from coastal erosion, but rising sea temperatures have caused coral bleaching. Gavin’s community has revived the tabu system, restricting fishing in certain areas to aid ecosystem recovery. This practice is now supported by satellite monitoring, which helps protect reefs from further damage. Additionally, coral transplantation, combining traditional knowledge with scientific techniques, is helping to restore reefs.
The collaboration of TEK and modern science has led to more effective adaptation strategies. Tools like GIS and satellite data help target areas in need of restoration, while intergenerational workshops ensure that local wisdom and new technologies complement each other.
The Pacific Islands face significant challenges from climate change, including rising sea levels and more extreme weather patterns. This essay explores how one community is responding to these threats by integrating traditional knowledge, modern scientific strategies, and innovative technologies to enhance climate resilience. The community has adopted initiatives such as community gardens for food security, disaster planning workshops, and incorporating indigenous knowledge into modern resilience strategies. Education and advocacy efforts, along with renewable energy projects, further strengthen the collective response to climate impacts.
Climate Resilience In My Community underscores the importance of grassroots action, intergenerational knowledge sharing, and technological innovation in building climate resilience. Through these combined efforts, the community is working towards a sustainable and harmonious future, integrating both cultural heritage and environmental stewardship.
Through the lens of the Siavun tribe, the author reflects on how ancestral marine management practices, such as rotational fishing and taboo areas, have fostered a sustainable relationship with the ocean, making the community resilient in the face of modern environmental challenges. These practices, developed over generations, are crucial in mitigating the effects of rising sea levels, coral bleaching, and disrupted weather patterns. However, the essay also acknowledges threats to the preservation of this knowledge, including globalisation and changing social structures.
The Guardians of the sea: How Siavun Tribal knowledge builds climate resilience emphasises the need for revitalising traditional knowledge by integrating it with modern conservation strategies, including the inclusion of indigenous wisdom in climate policies. Highlighting the key role women play in maintaining this knowledge, it advocates for their active involvement in environmental management. The Siavun tribe’s practices, once viewed as culturally significant, are now essential tools in the global fight against climate change. The paper concludes with a call to recognise, respect, and preserve indigenous knowledge, ensuring a sustainable future for both the community and the planet.
The essay Climate Change: Impacts, Challenges, and Building Resilience in my village highlights the climate challenges faced by Vuturua Village on Small Ngella Island, Solomon Islands. The essay details how this community experiences the effects of rising sea levels, extreme weather, and water scarcity, threatening livelihoods reliant on agriculture and fishing. Despite these hardships, the village embodies resilience, particularly through a tradition of mutual aid. However, the absence of government climate awareness programs has left residents struggling to cope with climate impacts without sufficient support.
Building resilience requires diversifying livelihoods, adopting water security measures like rainwater harvesting, rebuilding climate-resilient infrastructure, and fostering sustainable agricultural practices. Legal tools, particularly in the realm of accountability and climate justice, play a critical role in enabling communities to hold those responsible for climate impacts accountable.
I belong to a small Island you can’t see on the map essay discusses the essential role of traditional knowledge in helping Samoan communities navigate the challenges of climate change. It highlights iloa totino tauave mai, a term referring to knowledge passed down through generations, which underpins the cultural resilience of Samoa, particularly through the Fa’aSamoa. This knowledge allows Samoans to adapt to changing environmental conditions by using methods such as their seasonal calendar for predicting extreme weather and weather-related phenomena like afa (cyclones). These age-old practices, passed down from seafaring ancestors, have enabled Samoans to thrive despite shifting weather patterns and rising climate risks.
The Fa’amatai system, a traditional Samoan governance and social structure, strengthens resilience by emphasising community participation in decision-making and environmental stewardship. The collaborative nature of this system enables swift resource mobilisation during crises and incorporates local knowledge into climate adaptation strategies, fostering unity and helping communities navigate emerging climate challenges. Additionally, traditional fishing systems, governed by community-based laws like tapu, help protect marine ecosystems and ensure sustainable food sources in the face of climate change. By preserving and utilising these cultural practices, Samoa’s communities can better manage environmental changes, safeguarding their livelihoods and maintaining strong social cohesion as they adapt to climate impacts.
Building Towards a Climate Resilient FSM and the Pacific explores the personal and communal impact of climate change on the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), highlighting both the lived experiences of local communities and efforts to strengthen resilience. For residents of the outer islands, rising sea levels and increasing saltwater inundation are ongoing challenges. The author reflects on growing up amidst these changes and their involvement in climate resilience initiatives, such as their participation in the 2021 Pacific Resilience Meeting. The experience emphasised the need for both local and regional efforts involving collaboration between leaders and youth for effective climate action.
A key example of climate resilience is the “Enhancing the Climate Change Resilience of Vulnerable Island Communities in the Federated States of Micronesia” project, which addresses water shortages caused by severe droughts through the installation of rainwater tanks. However, more extreme weather events, like the 2024 drought in Yap state, reveal that current measures need further adaptation. This points to the crucial need for more robust climate strategies and infrastructure, informed by accurate data reflecting the realities faced by remote communities. Furthermore, regional cooperation through organisations like the Pacific Islands Forum is essential for addressing shared climate challenges, enabling FSM and other Pacific nations to advocate for stronger climate resilience policies globally. This highlights the need for continued, data-driven, and locally informed climate action, supported by both local and regional partnerships.
Climate Resilience in My Community emphasises the impact of rising sea levels and extreme weather events like cyclones and floods, particularly in coastal areas like Suva. The community’s climate resilience efforts are multifaceted. One key project is the mangrove restoration initiative, which not only prevents coastal erosion but also mitigates climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide. Additionally, improvements to infrastructure, such as weather-resistant drainage systems and flood-resistant homes, are already having a positive impact on reducing flooding risks. The essay also highlights the importance of educating young people through environmental education programs, with youth-led groups advocating for stronger government policies to support climate resilience. Despite the progress, challenges remain, especially in enforcing environmental laws and ensuring the active participation of underrepresented groups in decision-making. The author argues that by combining adaptation strategies with education, governance, and regional cooperation, Fiji’s communities can not only survive but thrive in the face of climate change, showcasing their strength as changemakers.
Meet the 2024 Jury Panel
DR. CHRISTOPHE BUFFET
Dr. Christophe Buffet is an adaptation researcher at the French Agency for Development (AFD). From 2018 to 2024, he was in charge of AdaptAction, a programme of AFD Group that supports understanding, planning, and investing in adaptation in 12 to 18 partner countries and regional organisations (Africa, LDCs, SIDS, Mediterranean area) with two cross-cutting components (Gender & social inclusion; knowledge management and outreach).
He previously worked for NGOs in the humanitarian field (Afghanistan, Pakistan). He holds a PhD on the construction of adaptation from COPs to vulnerable villages in Bangladesh (EHESS), a Master’s degree in International Relations (IRIS), and a Master’s degree in Business Management and Marketing (Audencia).
DR. SOJIN LIM
Dr. Sojin Lim is a Reader in Asia Pacific Studies and serves as the Co-Director of the International Institute of Korean Studies at the University of Central Lancashire. With a background in sustainable development and climate resilience, Dr. Lim’s research has engaged with the Pacific region, particularly in addressing the climate-related challenges faced by small island nations. She is actively involved in interdisciplinary research that intersects with global development aid and climate change, making her a prominent voice in advancing climate resilience in the Asia-Pacific region.
DR. SONNY NUÑEZ DOMINGO
Dr. Sonny N. Domingo is a Senior Research Fellow and OIC Department Manager for Research Information with the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS). He obtained his Ph.D. in Applied Economics as a fellow of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). Dr Domingo has more than three decades of extensive multi-sector technical and policy research exposure. His current research interests include ecological integrity and environmental policy, technical agriculture and resource economics, and climate change and disaster risk management.
KERRYN DEVENNY
Kerryn Devenny has a diverse background in education and retail management, with expertise in business processes, project management, capacity building, and leadership. Since joining the International WaterCentre (IWC) in 2017, she has developed and managed custom training programs to enhance the skills of water professionals globally.
Kerryn has also led projects such as the Water and WASH Futures Knowledge Events Series and developed strategies like the Water Security Engagement Strategy for the Pacific Region. Currently, as Sustainability Manager (Impact and Engagement) at Griffith University, she manages systems for rankings submissions, prepares sustainability reports, and coordinates initiatives aligned with the Griffith Sustainability Strategy 2023-2030.
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