Grace Malie
{{Short description|Tuvaluan climate activist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
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| birth_place = Tuvalu
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Grace Malie is a Tuvaluan climate activist, focusing on the effects of climate change in Tuvalu. She has been quoted before the International Court of Justice, and she has presented her country's concerns before the United Nations. She is a youth delegate for the Rising Nations Initiative.
Life
Grace Malie was raised on the island of Funafuti in Tuvalu.{{cite news |last1=Scott |first1=Elfy |title=Meet the young people who could outlive their own country |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/meet-the-young-people-who-could-outlive-their-own-country/bm48uccaw |access-date=25 March 2025 |work=SBS News |date=14 September 2024}} She went to school on Fiji where the children, from Tuvalu, were teased as being from the "sinking island".
Malie is outspoken concerning the effects of climate change on her country. She is a youth delegate for the Rising Nations Initiative, which aims to preserve the cultures of Pacific Atoll countries threatened by rising sea levels.{{Cite web |author=Lowy Institute |title=Major projects |url=https://pacificaidmap.lowyinstitute.org/project/?id=DNK-Grant-REG-25-26-430-43082 |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map |language=en}} At the end of 2023, she attended COP28 in Dubai, where she lobbied the British King Charles III.{{Cite news |date=2023-12-02 |title=Teenager states fears of rising malaria cases and links to extreme weather |url=https://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/national/23964274.teenager-states-fears-rising-malaria-cases-links-extreme-weather/ |access-date=2025-01-03 |work=East London and West Essex Guardian Series |agency=PA News Agency |language=en}} She was introduced to him by the secretary general of the commonwealth, Patricia Scotland, and Malie said she received the King's support.{{Cite news |date=2024-09-27 |title=Tuvalu: the fight to save a sinking nation from climate change |url=https://www.channel4.com/news/tuvalu-the-fight-to-save-a-sinking-nation-from-climate-change |access-date=2025-01-03 |work=Channel 4 News |language=en-GB}}
On 8 September 2024,{{cite web |title=COP28 EU Side Events - Speakers: Grace Malie |url=https://www.cop28eusideevents.eu/e/speakers?speaker=1014883%2Fgrace-malie |website=COP28 European Union Side Events |access-date=25 March 2025}} Malie and the Tuvaluan prime minister Feleti Teo addressed the seventy-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly regarding sea level rise.{{Cite news |last=Borenstein |first=Seth |date=2024-09-25 |title=Young people in island nations face an existential question: Should they stay or should they go? |url=https://apnews.com/article/united-nations-sea-level-rise-tuvalu-choices-247f0866eef0d8f40bbdebf95a92f94a |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=AP News |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Tuvalu is sinking: How do you relocate an entire country? |url=https://www.channel4.com/news/tuvalu-is-sinking-how-do-you-relocate-an-entire-country |work=Channel 4 News |publisher=BBC |date=2023-12-04 |access-date=25 March 2025}} She told the summit that Tuvalu had done little to cause climate change but it was being asked to take the most pain, stating, "As you debate, the waves of the ocean erodes a part of the island. As you continuously discuss, hopes of a Tuvaluan youth vanish. As you delay implementing the Paris Agreement or paying for loss and damage, the identity of not just Tuvaluans but other big ocean states are at stake. We have done the least to cause the crisis, but we are paying the highest price".
In December 2024, Malie attended Tuvalu's case against the countries who contribute the most to climate change, which was presented before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by Tuvalu's attorney general, Laingane Italeli Talia. A case was made regarding the rising sea levels threatening Tuvalu and other members of the Alliance of Small Island States. Vanuatu arranged for the ICJ to advise on the legal position of the defendant countries. The court was told that this was the largest threat to the existence of the islands of Tuvalu. Professor Phillipa Webb quoted Malie as saying, "Tuvalu will not go quietly into the rising sea".{{Cite news |last=Dhakal |first=Tanka |date=2024-12-13 |title='We Will Not Go Quietly Into the Rising Sea,' Tuvalu Tells International Court of Justice |agency=Inter Press Service |location=The Hague |url=https://www.globalissues.org/news/2024/12/13/38604 |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Global Issues |language=en-gb}}{{Cite news |last=Yeo |first=Sophie |title=Tuvalu: The disappearing island nation recreating itself in the metaverse |url=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20241121-tuvalu-the-pacific-islands-creating-a-digital-nation-in-the-metaverse-due-to-climate-change |date=2024-11-21 |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=BBC |language=en-GB}}
Malie has also presented at TEDxLondon.{{Cite web |last=Pasha |first=Maryam |date=2024-01-05 |title=BOSS series: Tuvalu's climate superpower |url=https://tedxlondon.com/podcasts/boss-series-tuvalus-climate-superpower/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=TEDxLondon |language=en-GB}}