Yessie Mosby is best known as one of the “Torres Strait Eight”, the activists from the islands north of the Australian mainland, who complained to the UN Human Rights Council that the government was not doing enough to protect them from the effects of the climate crisis.

In this interview with the UN’s Julia Dean, recorded earlier this month, Mr. Mosby described the devastating effects of the rising sea levels and extreme weather events in recent years, and his fears for the future.

He started by describing the deep connection that he and his community have to the islands, which have been home to his people for some 70,000 years.