At the end of October 2021, the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) will convene in Glasgow in what the hosts describe as “the world’s best last chance to get runaway climate change under control”.
Climate change represents one of the greatest threats to human rights of our generation. What is decided at COP26, and what countries do or fail to do in the years ahead, is therefore of critical importance. In this panel discussion, we will discuss Indigenous rights, climate change displacement, youth activism and strategic litigation.
On the panel:
Tony McAvoy is Australia’s first Indigenous Senior Counsel and has written on the notion of Indigenous rights in Australia, and the impacts of those rights in a climate change policy vacuum.
Sanjule Weerasinghe is a lawyer who works at the intersection of international law, humanitarian crises and displacement. Now based in Geneva, Sanjula’s past experience also includes representing refugees and asylum seekers, managing legal aid centres in Thailand and Hong Kong.
David Barnden is the lawyer representing 8 students from around Australia bringing a class action against the Federal Environment Minister to protect young people from the climate change impacts of the proposed Vickery Extension Coal Project.
Folole Tupuola is a storyteller and artist of Samoan descent. She advocates for climate and social justice through a lens of cultural resilience and artistic healing with and for Oceania. Folole’s work brings to light mental well-being, activism and decolonisation as a young Pacific diaspora youth in so called Australia. She is the Pacific Climate Warriors Coordinator in Victoria, Australia.
Annika Reynolds, CEO and Founder of GreenLaw, a youth-led organisation that empowers environmentally conscious organisations to engage effectively with legal institutions, will moderate the session.
