Climate change presents the human race with profound choices that go beyond the current debate over new technologies, economic, and social costs and even concerns over environmental impacts. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called climate change the “moral imperative and the defining issue of our era.”

The goal of Many Strong Voices

The goal of Many Strong Voices is to promote the well-being, security, and sustainability of coastal communities in the Arctic and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) by bringing these regions together to take action on climate change mitigation and adaptation, and to tell their stories to the world.

The Arctic and SIDS are barometers of global environmental change. They are considered critical testing grounds for the ideas and programmes that will strengthen the adaptive capacities of human societies confronting climate change.

Lessons learned through MSV will support policy development at local, regional, and international levels. They will provide decision makers in the two regions with the knowledge to safeguard and strengthen vulnerable social, economic, and natural systems.

Follow Many Strong Voices in Durban

John Crump is UNEP/GRID-Arendal's Senior Climate Change Advisor and co-coordinator of the Many Strong Voices programme. He is currently covering the climate change negotiations (COP17) in Durban and promoting the work of Many Strong Voices. 

A former journalist, John is a keen blogger and will be sending regular updates on the negotiations on his blog. 

The Portraits of Resilience exhibition, featuring new stories from several Pacific Islands including Samoa, Fiji and Tuvalu, are being exhibited at the Natural Science Museum of Durban.