The Asia Pacific region is more vulnerable to climate change than any other region in the world. From prolonged droughts, ocean acidification, severe hurricanes, heatwaves, and surging seas, Asia Pacific peoples are already witnessing the life-altering impacts of climate change. The achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the region has also been effectively derailed by climate impacts, compounding existing inequalities on gender, health and education, among others.

AP educators are already experiencing the consequences of climate change every day. In the Pacific, Fiji, Tuvalu and New Zealand Aotearoa are already facing the threat of sinking islands due to rapidly rising seas. In Southeast Asia, global warming will slash rice yield potential by 50% on average by 2100. India, and other South Asian countries, are poised to become inhumanely hotter and drier. In order to respond to climate disasters, the education sector has been exhausting its resources to rebuild school infrastructure and replace learning materials, while educators themselves are losing their homes and communities. Educators are also being tapped to join local disaster response teams, aggravating their already full workload.

The first step is to raise awareness among members, close knowledge gaps and encourage active participation.

Hence, EIAP has recognized the need to build up its work by bolstering calls for climate justice and a just transition in climate policies in the education sector. We acknowledge that the first step is to raise awareness among members, close knowledge gaps and encourage active participation. Thus, this newsletter will be providing updates on the latest discourses on climate justice, developments on international climate policy and pertinent reading materials on climate change. We will also be publishing interviews with union representatives as well as opinion pieces from AP unions. In the future, we also hope to publish your poetry, short stories and artwork to showcase the multidimensional approaches of climate action. We hope that this becomes a lively space and resource AP education unions.

The education sector can be a vital actor in averting the worst consequences of climate change. Educators are not only crucial change agents in the classroom, they are also important stakeholders in policymaking. Education unions must demand that climate justice stands at the center of policies on climate action. With your help and through our strong network, we hope to make the climate justice agenda intrinsic to unions across the Asia Pacific.

In solidarity,
Anand Singh