Strong partnerships with First Nations communities take time, trust and genuine listening. Across Australia, hundreds of Nation groups hold diverse cultures, governance systems, protocols and deep connections to Country.
Through the National Environmental Science Program, both the Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub and now the Climate Systems Hub have worked alongside Traditional Owners to support codesigned, culturally safe climate research.
These partnerships bring together Indigenous knowledge and climate science to better understand climate change and support adaptation across Country.
Current Indigenous Partnerships
The Climate Systems Hub is currently working with First Nations partners through Project CS5.10, which explores Indigenous partnerships across seven key areas:
- Coastal impacts
- Extreme heat
- Fire on Country
- Marine heatwaves
- Big wet – big dry
- Youth
- Governance
This work focuses on strengthening partnerships, supporting knowledge sharing, and ensuring research responds to community priorities.
Building on earlier collaboration
Current partnerships build on important work undertaken through the Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub, which helped establish relationships, share knowledge and explore new ways of working together.
Examples of partnerships that continue today include:
The Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub worked with the Shark Bay World Heritage Advisory Committee to use climate change projections to assess the climate risk to Shark Bay’s seagrass species. This information is an important component of the climate change adaptation plans for Shark Bay.
Visit the page, download the full workshop report or a two-page summary.
In February 2020, the Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub convened a workshop at the
AMOS conference in Fremantle where Traditional Owners and researchers could share experiences and advice for successful collaboration. Important considerations that were identified in that discussion are summarised here with a view to providing guidance for co-designing climate-change-related research projects with First Nations peoples.
The Gathering is a national event held every two years that brings together First Peoples from across Australia to discuss and share knowledge about responding to climate change. It provides a space for dialogue, collaboration, and cultural exchange, ensuring that First Peoples’ perspectives are central to climate action. Find out more >
Continuing the journey
The Climate Systems Hub continues to build on these partnerships, supporting collaboration between researchers and First Nations communities to strengthen climate knowledge and adaptation across Australia.