Date & time
Venue
Online via Zoom Webinar
Contact
Event description
The Amnesty-ANU Eminent Speakers series is back! Join ANU Law Reform and Social Justice (LRSJ) and Amnesty International in this discussion on climate change and human rights at COP26.
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.
Speakers
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.
Sanjula Weerasinghe works at the intersection of international law, humanitarian crises and displacement. Based in Geneva, she has consulted for UNHCR, the IOM and the Brookings institute on the international protection needs of those fleeing natural disasters and environmental harm.
Folole Tupuola is a storyteller and artist of Samoan descent. Advocates for climate and social justice through a lens of cultural resilience and artistic healing with and for Oceania. Folole 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 is a young Queer* leader in the environment movement, advocating for a more inclusive vision of climate justice. They founded GreenLaw in 2019 and are its ongoing CEO, as well as the inaugural Youth Chair of the Environment and Human Rights Sub-Committee of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights. GreenLaw is a youth-led legal research institute leveraging the expertise and imagination of the next generation of lawyers to tackle the climate crisis and the systemic injustices that contribute to ongoing environmental degradation.
Annika is a current Laws (Honours)/International Security Studies student at the Australian National University, with a minor in Korean. In 2019 - 2020 they were a Research Assistant at the ANU College of Law and appointed as a legal research consultant to the Australian Conservation Foundation. They are a published researcher on public interest environmental litigation, the environment and human rights, and climate change topics.
Peta Bulling is an activist, environmental scientist, and student at the Australian National University studying a Bachelor of Laws (Honours). She has previously worked in climate change and renewable energy advocacy; and currently works as a Biodiversity Campaigner at the Conservation Council ACT Region. Peta is a published researcher on the human right to a healthy environment and has previously written about COP26 for Smart Energy Magazine.