Building power to protect country

Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing humanity and core to this crisis is the loss of country, cultures and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples in Australia and across the world. Climate change is already disproportionately affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We are experiencing rising sea levels in the Torres Strait, the destruction of sacred country, diminishing access to food and water.

In 2016 the temperature in the Northern Territory rose 2 degrees, the largest coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef and 10000 hectares of mangrove die off stretching from the Gulf of Carpentaria all the way to Weipa in QLD. As our Governments and corporations refuse to take action to limit warming to below 1.5 degrees all over the world we are seeing Indigenous communities stand up to led the fight to protect country. 

Our communities have the most at stake and are increasingly under pressure to adapt to a changing climate. As Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities we need to consider: How will our communities lead the solutions and adapt to the challenges of a changing climate? How will we change the way we do business on country to ensure our communities remain viable? How do we support our communities around the demands of mining and the transition away from fossil fuels? How are we able to ensure our communities have agency and are self-determining through all of this?