As part of Living Nature 20201, we hosted a conversation about Aboriginal science, the rights of nature and the unprecedented land grab that threatens Australia’s Kimberley region with Indigenouse rights activists, Anne Poelina and film producers, Nick Wrathall.

The Kimberley region of North-Western Australia is one of the world’s most ecologically diverse areas, with one of the last untouched coastlines left on Earth. It is also home to 200 remote Aboriginal communities and the oldest surviving culture in the world. Right now, the Kimberley and its people are under threat. Mining, pastoralism and agriculture are driving an unprecedented industrial land grab.

What does this mean for Australia’s First People? And what does this mean for their homeland, their culture and their knowledge?

Though many refer to Indigenous knowledge as traditional, ecological knowledge, it has developed through observation, experimentation and analysis - just like Western science. Is it time for global leaders to recognise Indigenous knowledge as a science and as an essential tool for Australia’s future environmental efforts? Join this Living Nature discussion as we explore:

• How are the Kimberley’s Indigenous leaders taking action?

• How can Aboriginal science help us address climate change?

• What would progress whilst living harmoniously with the planet look like?

About the speakers:

• Anne Poelina: Dr Anne Poelina, Managing Director of Madjulla Incorporated, is a Nyikina Warrwa Traditional Custodian from the Mardoowarra, Lower Fitzroy River in the Kimberley region of WA. She is a Peter Cullen Fellow, Board and Councillor with the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), Adjunct Research Fellow with Charles Darwin University, Northern Institute and Adjunct Senior Research Fellow with Notre Dame University Broome. Her work explores the entrepreneurial 'New Economy' opportunities for Indigenous people in relation to green collar jobs in diverse, science, culture, heritage and conservation economies. Dr Poelina promotes the need to include traditional ecological knowledge, First Law and the rights of nature to the solutions for planetary health and wellbeing.

• Nicholas Wrathall: Nicholas Wrathall is an award-winning director and producer known for Gore Vidal: The United States Of Amnesia which opened to acclaim at Tribeca Film Festival and was distributed theatrically by IFC. He was first recognized for Abandoned: The Betrayal of America’s Immigrants, featured on PBS Independent Lens and winning the 2001 Alfred I. duPont Columbia Award for Broadcast Journalism. Other documentaries include Endless Caravan, Haitian Eksperyans and The Modern Gulag. Facilitated by Jon Bowermaster, explorer and oceans expert.

View the recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcpFJG8PyQA