The adverse effects of climate change has taken its toll on many but for persons with disabilities, the impacts are two to three times worse. This is the sentiment of Ellington Kabui, the Climate change officer from the Solomon Islands.
Ellington is a person with disability from the Solomon Islands and has been a very strong advocate for inclusive education. Having graduated last September with a Law degree, Ellington says that his country’s ratifying the UN CRPD is a major step for persons with disabilities especially with the ever-increasing impact of climate change.
“Climate change has really affected us. We now see a lot of floodings in Solomons, both in the rural and urban areas. For persons with disabilities, this is worrying. I have even lost a friend of mine who also was a person with disabilities and she lost her life in a flood last year. It is hard for persons with disabilities to flee to higher ground during floods especially with sudden flooding. There have also been cases where persons with disabilities have lost their homes which were washed away in the floods. This change to the weather pattern is all due to climate change. All we can do now is raise awareness and push our stakeholders to ensure that persons with disabilities are not left out in any disaster risk reduction and climate change action.”
Ellington was part of teh APCP Climate Change Officers based in country and worked with the Pacific Disability Forum.
