Statement on Receiving the 2025 Right Livelihood Award

Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC) is deeply honoured to receive the 2025 Right Livelihood Award alongside our friend Julian Aguon of Blue Ocean Law. We accept this recognition with immense humility, gratitude, and a profound sense of responsibility.

This award does not belong only to us but is for our peoples, our communities, and every young person across the Blue Pacific who has stood up to defend their home, their identity, and their future. It affirms that frontline communities are not just victims of the climate crisis—they are leaders, innovators, and moral authorities in the global struggle for climate justice.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to the Right Livelihood Foundation for uplifting our work and for recognising the power of Pacific youth who took a bold idea from a classroom and helped deliver it to the highest court in the world. This honour strengthens our resolve to continue the long journey ahead: ensuring that the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion becomes a catalyst for real action, real accountability, and real justice.

We also acknowledge our partners, elders, allies, supporters, friends and families from across the region and around the world. This movement has always been intergenerational, collective and about you all. We would not be here without your guidance, solidarity, and belief in the vision of a just, safe, and liveable Pacific.

As we celebrate this milestone, we do so knowing that the work is far from over. We accept this award not as a culmination, but as a call to deepen our efforts, amplify Pacific stories, and ensure that we do everything possible to leave behind a legacy of hope, resolve, and strength.

Vinaka vakalevu. Tankiu Tumas. Malo ‘aupito. Thank you for walking with us.

Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change