International Public Forum on Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change: The Tropical Australian Experience 3 April 2008 (Darwin, Australia)

Full proceedings now available...

Indigenous peoples have contributed the least to world greenhouse gas emissions and have the smallest ecological footprints on Earth. Although they are currently suffering the worst impacts of climate change, their centuries of traditional knowledge and on-the-ground adaptation to worsening conditions have much to teach the rest of the world about how to deal with the impacts of climate change, according to speakers at a Public Forum held on 3 April in Darwin, Australia, hosted by the United Nations University-Institute of Advanced Studies, Charles Darwin University, the North Australia Indigenous Sea and Land Management Alliance and the Northern Territory Government.

Five expert speakers, combining indigenous and traditional knowledge with more traditional western science, were selected to speak at the Public Forum, to share their experiences in northern Australia with the International Expert Meeting on Climate Change and Indigenous People.

Resources

Download the programme...
Download the event flyer... (.pdf, 6MB)
Download the pre-sessional documents...
Download the audio files from this event...

• Opening meeting - Professor Helen Garnett, CDU (.mp3, 3.40MB)
• Welcome to Country - Donna Jackson, Larrakia Nation (.mp3, 2.54MB)
• Introductory remarks - Joe Morrison, NAILSMA (.mp3, 3.09MB)
• Summary of expert meeting deliberations - Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Chairperson UNPFII (.mp3, 8.23MB)
• Presentation 1: Fire management - Dr Jeremy Russell-Smith (.mp3, 9.35MB) and Mr Dean Yibarbuk (.mp3, 13.3MB)
• Presentation 2: Adaptive capacity of Indigenous peoples - Professor Wendy Brady (.mp3, 15.7MB)
• Presentation 3: Health - Professor Bart Currie (.mp3, 14.6MB) and Dr Ngiare Brown (.mp3, 7.04MB)
• Panel discussion (.mp3, 48.2MB)
• Concluding remarks - Professor Bob Wasson, CDU (.mp3, 4.89MB)

Proceedings

A book addressing the outcomes of this event was made available for free download in 2009.