The Australian
Bushfire Survivor Declaration
We are bushfire survivors, and the Australians who stand beside them.
We are people from all walks of life, all abilities, all communities, all ages. Bushfires fuelled by the escalating climate crisis have cost us too much already.
Now we stand together in community to demand urgent action on climate.
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We represent people everywhere who simply want a future safe from climate-fuelled bushfires and all of the damage they bring. We do not represent any political party or other interest group.
Some of us have lost loved ones to bushfires. Some of us have lost the landscapes and environments we loved, and we grieve the animals that perished. Some of us have lost our homes, our communities, our special places. Collectively we have lost our sense of safety and security.
Every time a new fire threatens communities, our fear rises. Every time more lives are lost, our grief deepens. Every time more homes are destroyed, we are pulled back into the darkest moments of our lives. And every time, our determination to fight for the safety of every single community grows stronger.
No one who has been through these terrors is unchanged. Even as we heal we live in waiting, in dread and stress, for the next fires, knowing we leave a world of escalating climate threats to the generations who follow.
And so, as bushfire survivors we are committed to holding our governments accountable.
Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action (BSCA) formed in 2018 after the Tathra District Fire.
BSCA formed because while Australia has always had bushfires, climate change is making them more frequent, more intense and more dangerous. With an urgent message of climate action, BSCA has won in the courts, met with politicians from left and right and shared heartbreaking stories in the media. We’ve been heard and at times ignored.
Meanwhile climate pollution is still rising and more and more Australians are becoming bushfire survivors.
Since BSCA formed in 2018:
Every single year has been among the 10 hottest ever recorded, with 3 declared the hottest on record.
There have been at least 8 Inquiries, Royal Commissions and Inquests, yielding 330 recommendations.
More than 3800 homes have burned or been damaged.
At least 46 lives have been lost directly to fires and many more claimed by the lasting toll of grief and health impacts.
While survivors raise the alarm, the fires are only getting worse.
In spite of the progress this country has made, we can and must do so much better.
For all of these reasons we call on our governments to put human lives before the profits of the fossil fuel industry and:
Unite behind 1.5°C-aligned climate targets and put politicisation of climate action behind us.
Stay the course on the rollout of Australia's renewable energy future - supporting all communities to benefit from it.
Commit to a total phase out of polluting fossil fuels and develop a plan to do so.
Invest deeply in communities and be guided by them, so they can prepare for and recover from future climate disasters.
Raise the money required to pay the escalating climate damage bill by making the big fossil fuel polluters pay.
We share these words because nothing is more critical to our survival right now than urgent climate action. When we act together, united in the fight to halt the climate crisis, we can make all communities safer.
Please join us.
Sign the Declaration
Five years since Black Summer.
Thousands of homes destroyed or damaged by bushfire. Countless changed by trauma and grief.
Yet emissions are still rising, our climate keeps changing and bushfires are getting worse.
We have the solutions. We know what needs to happen to cut emissions and support bushfire impacted communities.
By uniting behind this Declaration, we’re sending a clear message to our leaders that bushfire survivors and our supporters won’t back down until governments deliver urgent climate action.
Will you stand with us?
8 inquiries.
3800 homes destroyed.
10 climate records broken.
330 recommendations.
8 inquiries. 3800 homes destroyed. 10 climate records broken. 330 recommendations.
Send the Declaration
For too long, climate action has felt like a political game.
But to us, and to the countless Australian communities on the frontlines of climate change, this isn’t a game. It is real life – and our survival in a changing climate.
The Australian Bushfire Survivor Declaration calls on our political leaders to come together and unite behind a commitment to urgent climate action.
Leaders right across the political spectrum need to be reminded that climate change is already impacting communities across the country – and if they fail to act, it will only get worse.
Send the Declaration to your MP and call on them to stand with us and deliver urgent climate action.
“Nowhere will be safe if we don’t do something about getting emissions down.”
Black Summer Stories
In the wake of the devastating Black Summer bushfires in 2019-2020, an inspiring movement of climate leaders emerged.
5 years on, these are the Black Summer survivors sharing their stories for climate action.