Climate change destroyed my home and washed away everything I owned

I was 16 years old when Typhoon Haiyan (also known as Super Typhoon Yolanda), one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded, destroyed my home and washed away everything I owned.

My father had been a fisherman and, in an instant, lost his entire livelihood.

Fishing was impossible as dead bodies floated in the sea for a long time afterwards. Instead we relied on relief goods and some money from my university scholarship.

The government response was shockingly inadequate.

Relocation sites lacked basic services such as water and electricity, and there were only limited opportunities for people to earn a living. As a result, many families returned to their original homes, despite these areas still being extremely dangerous.

To this day, almost six years later, half of our house is still under tarpaulin.

No one expected Haiyan to be that devastating and monstrous.

I knew I had to do something because I didn’t want my community to ever go through the same thing again, or to ever feel that sense of utter helplessness again.

The climate crisis has had a real and devastating impact on my life and that of countless others. But the pain it causes ordinary people is often missed in the technical language used by climate scientists.

After Haiyan, I founded the Youth Leaders for Environmental Action Federation.

We fight for an environmentally-oriented, sustainable, and climate change resilient community in the Eastern Philippines. We also work to raise awareness on a global stage of the current and very real impact the climate crisis is having on the lives of people in our communities.

In December 2015, I was invited by the French president to speak at the first day of the climate talks in Paris.

I didn’t expect leaders to pay attention to my story. But to my surprise, they actually listened, they actually engaged. And I felt empowered.

It reminded me that you should never underestimate your power to make a change.

Young people of today have a really important role in this fight. We are fighting for our future and we deserve to have this future. If we don’t do anything now, when are we going to do it? And who will do it for us if we don’t?

Six years ago, my life turned upside down. But I now know what the purpose of my life is.

I will fight, whatever happens, for my future and that of my future children. I still have this fire in me to continue what I’m doing.

Every step and every individual action counts. Because that is how it becomes a bigger movement.

You can make a change.

My community is still fighting for justice and government action after Haiyan.

This week, I’ll be at the UN Climate talks in Madrid With Amnesty International, asking governments to listen and take action on what is fast becoming one of the biggest threats to our human rights.

The climate crisis is often badged as a distant and impossible issue, but it is happening now, and we have to take urgent action now if we have any hopes of surviving it.

You can support Marinel by taking part in Amnesty International’s Write for Rights campaign and email President Duterte to demand that he takes the climate crisis seriously.