As study shows 78% of UK under-12s worry about the issue, people in their 20s around world share their experiences
“We have lost so much already, and we don’t realise it,” says Eparama Qerewaqa, recalling the cyclones that hit his community in Fiji.
When he was a child, Qerewaqa, now 27, would hear the flowing river as he slept, and during the day, he would run through forest paths, collecting guavas and mandarins before diving into creeks to catch prawns. Today, climate breakdown has made Nuku, the village he grew up in, a shadow of itself.
“The trees from my childhood are no longer here, and the fruiting seasons are also off now,” he says.
In 2020, the category five Cyclone Yasa hit Fiji, causing major damage and four deaths. It also displaced tens of thousands of citizens and destroyed 800 homes.
