Indigenous participation in the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples’ Platform: the need to decolonise UN climate governance

Addressing climate change and creating equitable climate outcomes requires that Indigenous peoples are active participants in global climate governance. In this seminar, Siobhan McDonnell and Brianna Gordon consider how climate governance works in practice, and the challenges faced by Indigenous people who attempted to participate in the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP) at the twenty seventh UN Conference of the Parties held in Egypt.

About the speakers

Dr Siobhan McDonnell is an Associate Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the ANU. Siobhan is a lawyer and anthropologist who has over twenty-five years of experience working with Indigenous people in Australia and the Pacific. Since 2019 she has been a lead negotiator on climate change for various Pacific governments (on loss and damage, and mitigation). Her commitment to decolonial practice also means she has run land cases for Indigenous groups, and in 2014 supported the Vanuatu government by delivering land reforms to support better Indigenous land rights.

Brianna Gordon is a Wiradjuri (Australian First Nations) PhD student at the ANU. Brianna’s research focuses on mercury contamination from legacy gold mines, and the potential impacts of the contamination on Wiradjuri culture, community, and Country. How the contamination may be impacted by climate change is also a key aspect of her research. As an Indigenous scientist, Brianna champions Traditional Knowledge and Indigenous Ways of Learning in academia and international climate change policy. Brianna is also a co-convenor of the Indigenous student-led Fenner Circle, which provides a space for and advocates for Indigenous students within her school and university.

COVID protocols

The ANU strongly encourages you to keep a mask with you at all times (for use when COVID-19 safe behaviours are not practicable) and to be respectful of colleagues, students and visitors who may wish to continue to wear one. Please continue to practice good hygiene. If you are unwell, please stay home. The ACT government’s COVID Smart behaviours can be accessed here.

This seminar presentation is in-person only. Registration is not required for in-person attendance as neither the ANU nor ACT Health conduct contact tracing.

If you require accessibility accommodations or a visitor Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan please email regnet.communications@anu.edu.au.

Image credit: Image of hands holding a coolamon with smoking branches, by Elena Pochesneva, from Adobe Stock, used under Educational Licence.