Our Commonwealth Parliamentary Climate Forum has started (Tuesday 14 October).

Parliamentarians and parliamentary officials from all over the Commonwealth are in Westminster to discuss how parliamentarians can play a more effective role in shaping climate policy, scrutinising government action and driving positive change 

UK parliamentarian Roz Savage gave an inspirational opening speech.

Before Roz was elected to Parliament last year, she rowed solo across some of the world's oceans. She included vivid descriptions of her gruelling experiences in her address to delegates.

Here's her keynote address in full:

"Thank you to CPA UK for bringing us together for this important gathering. 

It’s wonderful to see representatives here from across the Commonwealth - from Jersey to Sierra Leone, from Eswatini to Cyprus, from The Bahamas to Kenya, from the Isle of Man to the Maldives. We come from many nations, but we are united by one shared reality: that the challenges facing our planet are borderless. Climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation affect us all. And they can only be solved if we work together. 

Before I entered Parliament I had a rather unusual career path. Over the course of rowing 15,000 miles alone at sea, I learned a few things about endurance, resilience, and our relationship with the natural world. 

When you’re in a seven-metre rowing boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, you are utterly exposed. You experience both the beauty and the brutality of nature. You learn quickly that you can’t win an argument with the wind or the waves. You have to work with them, to respect their power. That lesson has stayed with me - that survival depends not on domination, but on partnership. 

There were terrifying moments - nights when waves loomed higher than my boat, when I could hear them coming like a freight train long before I could see them. But there were also moments of extraordinary grace: sunsets that set the whole horizon ablaze, and nights under the stars when the Milky Way arched overhead like a great cosmic highway. Out there, alone, I felt both very small and deeply connected - part of something infinitely bigger. 

On my way across the Pacific in 2009, I made landfall in the island nation of Kiribati, on the island of Tarawa. I will never forget that moment. After months alone on the ocean, I was ceremonially carried ashore by two handsome men in traditional costume. There was singing and dancing. They brought me coconuts to drink and garlands of flowers for my neck. It was the warmest of welcomes. 

But not all was well in Paradise. During my time in Kiribati, I spent some time with President Anote Tong, and he told me about his fears for the future of his country. Because Kiribati, like so many low-lying islands, is at the frontline of climate change. The President was kind and dignified - but was keenly aware that his homeland may one day disappear beneath the rising seas.  

I saw Anote Tong again later that year in Copenhagen. He was there for COP15, the so-called Hopenhagen. President Obama had just been elected, and it seemed that anything was possible. Sadly, success in the climate talks turned out to be beyond even Obama’s capabilities. I saw Anote Tong and his delegation on the last Friday of the conference, just after the negotiations had broken down. They were sombre, but still defiant. I remember them saying, “We are not going away. We will fight on for the future of our country.” 

My time in Kiribati changed me forever. For many people in this country, climate change seems remote or abstract. But many of you live right there on the frontlines of climate change. It is about people, families, cultures, and homes. It is about justice. 

When I entered Parliament last year as MP for South Cotswolds, I brought that awareness with me. In my maiden speech, I said that rowing across an ocean is not so different from politics. Progress is rarely fast. Sometimes the headwinds are fierce. But if you keep your compass steady and keep rowing in the right direction, you can make landfall. 

That determination drove me to introduce the Climate and Nature Bill earlier this year. The Bill aims to create a joined-up, science-based approach to tackling the twin crises of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss. It would commit the UK to restoring nature and cutting emissions fast enough to stay within safe planetary limits, guided by independent experts and grounded in fairness - fairness to the next generation, to the most vulnerable, and to those of you already on the frontlines of change. 

But as we all know, legislation alone cannot save the planet. The work of safeguarding our shared future demands collaboration - across parties, across sectors, and across borders. And that is why gatherings like this are so vital. 

Because the truth is, no one nation can row this ocean alone. What we need now is international cooperation rooted in shared purpose and trust. 

Around this room are legislators from countries that have already shown extraordinary leadership. Kenya’s tree planting campaigns, Belize’s marine protection work, the renewable energy efforts in Sri Lanka, the conservation programmes in The Gambia and Saint Lucia - each of these is a beacon of what is possible. When we connect these efforts, when we share lessons and stand shoulder to shoulder, we amplify our impact far beyond what any one of us could achieve alone. 

We also have to be honest: the path ahead will not be easy. Transitioning to clean energy, protecting ecosystems, and rethinking our economies will take courage. There will be vested interests, political pressures, and moments when progress feels painfully slow. But we must keep going. Because the cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of action. 

As policymakers, our responsibility is to look beyond the next election cycle and think instead about the next generation. We must design policies that create jobs in renewable energy, restore degraded lands, clean up our air and water, and strengthen resilience in vulnerable communities. The climate crisis is not just an environmental issue - it is a security issue, a health issue, an economic issue, and a moral one. 

And it is also a story of opportunity. The clean energy revolution, the shift to regenerative agriculture, the redesign of cities and transport systems - these are opportunities to build a better, fairer, healthier world. The solutions are already within our reach; what we need now is the collective will to scale them up. 

When I was rowing, there were times when progress felt invisible. For days, the current would push me backwards. I’d row for twelve hours straight, only to discover I’d barely gained a single mile. But I learned to trust the process - to believe that small, consistent effort adds up. Every oarstroke matters. 

The same is true of our work as legislators. Each bill, each debate, each local project is a stroke in the right direction. Change may not come overnight, but if we keep moving together, it will come. 

And I think back to that morning in Kiribati, when I stepped onto the shore after months at sea. The people who welcomed me had so little in material terms, yet they offered such warmth, such grace, such generosity. Their resilience in the face of rising tides reminds me why this work matters. It’s about protecting the right of every community, everywhere, to thrive in safety and dignity on the land they call home. 

So my call to you today is simple. In your own parliaments, use your voice. Push for ambitious climate and nature policies. Build alliances across parties and across nations. Celebrate progress, however small, and keep rowing through the storms. 

None of us can do everything, but all of us can do something. And if we do it together, we can turn the tide. 

Because what I learned on the ocean is this: the waves may be powerful, but so are we - when we pull together." 

Roz Savage MP gives the opening speech