Local solutions on a sinking paradise, Carterets Islands, Papua New Guinea

In December 2008, the low-lying Carterets Islands were badly damaged by king tides and violent storm surges. Nicholas Hakata, a local youth leader and community representative, explains that he and his family have been surviving on mainly fish and coconuts, and battling the swamp mosquitoes that have brought malaria. With the local government's food aid ship coming once or twice a year, the relocation plans are equally as slow. Hungry and unwell, the islanders have set up a relocation team and have begun a series of urgent tasks to move families closer to security. Made in collaboration with Tulele Peisa relocation program tulelepeisa.org Featuring Nicholas Hakata Co-director/Camera/Editor: Luis Patron Co-director/Producer/Editor: Citt Williams Associate Producers: Ursula Rakmova and Tulele Peisa comittee Graphics: David Jimenez Sound Mixer: Tfer Newsome Shot on location in Carterets Island, Papua New Guinea Duration 10:09 minutes Developed and produced for United Nations University (UNU) by UNU Media Studio & Tulele Peisa, in association with UNU-IAS Traditional knowledge Initiative and The Christensen Fund. Further information for this film can be found at film’s website: www.ourworld.unu.edu/en/how-to-guide-for-environmental-refugees/ United Nations University has published this work under a Creative Commons license - share alike, attribution, no derivatives, non-commercial *About this Project* Collaboratively made with Indigenous storytellers, these videobriefs are told in local languages, respect Intellectual Property rights and provide storytellers with media training, resources and a fair media engagement model for future projects. The final videos played alongside other international climate change videos at a locally coordinated forum event, in April 2009’s Indigenous Peoples Climate Change Summit and later at a special screening at the National Museum of Denmark during the Copenhagen COP15 meeting. *About the filmmakers* Luis Patron- Co-director/Camera/Editor Luis Patron works as an independent documentary filmmaker, producer, HD cinematographer and editor. He teams up with talented local professionals in Japan and around the world to craft factual films for cinema and television. Citt Williams- Co-director/Producer/Editor Citt is a documentary filmmaker at the UNU Media Studio with over 12 years producing experience in broadcast media. Citt’s produced documentary films have been screened at festivals including Cannes (Yellow Fella), Sundance, Mumbai, Melbourne and by broadcasters including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Discovery and National Geographic. She has a Masters degree in documentary from the Australian Film Television and Radio School (Sydney) and a Business degree in Film and TV Production from QUT (Brisbane). Within UNU, her unit “Media Studio” (MS) has grounded expertise in online learning, interactive media and video production and in linking development issues with visual media and online content on social and environmental issues. Her role in the UNU-IAS Traditional Knowledge Initiative seeks to build greater understanding and facilitate awareness of traditional knowledge (TK) to inform action by Indigenous peoples, local communities and domestic and international policy makers. Key outputs include research activities, policy studies, capacity development and online learning and dissemination. Tulele Peisa Tulele Peisa — “sailing the waves on our own” — is a local community organisation that is trying to relocate their whole island community of the Carterets to nearby Bougainville, where they have cultural links. Ursula Rakmova is the managing director of the NGO. http://www.tulelepeisa.org/ United Nations University Media Studio The UNU Media Studio was established in March 2003 and works in collaboration with a global network of partners to develop and share open educational resources. Through a small team based in Tokyo, the UNU promotes innovation in the building of interactive content and video documentaries that engage, entertain and educate. The core creative team is comprised of specialists in web and graphic design, documentary and multimedia production, as well as educational technology and instructional design. In developing projects, this team collaborates with subject matter experts from within the UNU, from other UN bodies and from partner universities. The UNU Media Studio also collaborates with independent professionals in the area of documentary production, web application development, web design and instructional design. www.mediastudio.unu.edu United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies - Traditional Knowledge Inititaive The UNU-IAS Traditional Knowledge Initiative seeks to build greater understanding and facilitate awareness of traditional knowledge (TK) to inform action by indigenous peoples, local communities and domestic and international policy makers. Key outputs include res