The NESP Climate Systems Hub’s National First Peoples Platform on Climate Change (NFPPCC) Steering Committee are pleased to announce the third National First Peoples Gathering on Climate Change.
The Gathering will take place on Tubba-Gah Country, Dubbo, 14-18 October 2024. The Platform Steering Committee will partner with the Tubba-Gah (maing) Wiradjuri Aboriginal Corporation.
The Tubba-Gah Gathering builds on the 2021 Gathering held on Gimuy Walubarra Yidinji and Yirraganydji Country and earlier meetings on Yorta Yorta Country in 2012 and 2018.
“Being the Hosting Community Group is an honour for the Tubba-Gah (maing) Wiradjuri Aboriginal Corporation. It helps us to show that our priorities lie in working closely with organisations that value the Environment. This gathering will be instrumental in the First Nations-led dialogue on climate change,” said Lewis Burns (Chairperson) Tubba-Gah (maing) Wiradjuri Aboriginal Corporation.
The National First Peoples Platform on Climate Change was formed as a result of the requirement for NESP Hubs to engage with First Nations on the opportunities and challenges that climate change present on Country. After holding a dialogue with First Nation participants on Yorta Yorta Country in 2018 it was agreed that an Indigenous led process was required to provide guidance and advice to the Hub on how this engagement could be led by First Nations. A Steering Committee of 10 participants from different Communities were endorsed to provide this guidance and have developed protocol, process and tools that all project proponents both internally and externally to the Hub can use.
It was at the second national Gathering that the 2021 First Nation Peoples Statement on Climate Change was released calling for the Federal Government to financially support an annual First Nations-led dialogue on climate change.
The Tubba-Gah Gathering will be the third of its kind, involving First Nations people in the national dialogue about climate change.
The statement on climate developed at the 2018 dialogue and updated at the 2021 Gathering also recognised that scientific and traditional knowledge demanded immediate action against the threats of climate change.
“First Nations people of Australia contribute the least to climate change, yet the impacts of climate change are affecting us most severely,” the 2021 statement said.
“When Country is healthy, we are healthy. Our knowledge systems are interconnected with our environment and it relies on the health of Country. This knowledge is held by our Elders and passed on to the next generation. Solutions to climate change can be found in the landscapes and within our knowledge systems.”
Nominations to attend The Gathering are open
Email info@nesp2climate.com.au for a nomination form.