Professor DeJesus Takes on The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Professor Kevin DeJesus is one of Johnson and Wales's most interesting Political Science minds. He has traveled the world and spent time in the Middle East helping immigrants and displaced people. He even lived in the region of Gaza, which is at the center of the war between Hamas and the State of Israel, which began on October 7. He has first-hand experience with nations under duress, making him well-versed in international politics and relations, so much so that he could attend an exclusive conference in New York, known as The Carnegie Endowment. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a conference where all the nations (governmental and non-governmental) in the Indo-Pacific Island region meet to discuss their experiences and the area's strategic, economic, and diplomatic dynamics. They also discuss the geopolitical impact of the surrounding nations. The Indian Ocean region is crucial to the world as it has been an important trade area for centuries. The route provides access to one-third of the world’s bulk cargo traffic and two-thirds of the world’s oil shipment of food, precious metals, and energy resources, making it a key route in global trade.

One of the most notable speakers at the conference was the president of Kiribati, Teburoro Tito. Kiribati is a small island nation in the Pacific between Australia and Hawaii suffering from climate change. It may become the first nation in the world to lose from climate change. Kiribati is 2 meters above sea level and home to 100,000 people. Every month, the country is hit with storm surges and abnormally high tides that cause massive flooding, leaving the island with very little food and water. Due to climate change, Kiribati's underwater geography and water temperature have changed dramatically, and many fish species have left. The fish that haven’t quit are the subject of overfishing, which has led to an even more extreme food shortage. To combat their loss of land, they have built walls along the shore and planted Mangrove trees to help with flooding and erosion. Kiribati has even bought land in Fiji in preparation for their inevitable future of sinking into the sea—the former Ambassador to the United Nations, Republic of Fij Satyendra Prasad, said at the conference, "The Pacific has been experiencing cyclones, droughts, and storms for centuries. What is new about these is that they are now supercharged by climate change. This has been so for several decades now. The persistent and long recoveries that followed major catastrophes have often been painful and lonely national journeys, mainly out of sight of international media." Some residents have even tried to seek climate change asylum to escape their island. They have been deported back to Kiribati because climate change isn’t a legitimate reason for asylum.

Geopolitically, the Indo-Pacific region has become a critical area that China and the US are fighting to gain control over. Many island nations have already allowed China to back them. This is why President Biden and his administration have focused on Asia, and they’ve opened new embassies in this area. They hope to increase the Western influence t in the region to ensure America will have more traction in this fight for influence and power between America and China. Deep water mining was also mentioned as a way for the Indo-Pacific to create livelihood, but it also causes ecological degradation.

Do the major polluters of the world owe these islands? America and China are some of the world's biggest polluters and do the most damage to the world. The next step in supporting the Indo-Pacific region is to support and legitimize their fear of climate change. I hope to see more countries step up and recognize this global issue.