Climate and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health
Climate change and its impacts on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing is a key policy priority for Lowitja Institute. Climate change threatens our peoples’ cultural heritage and traditional knowledge and disrupts our connections to our communities, cultures, ceremonies, and languages. The changing climate is already having a profound impact on the social and cultural determinants of our health and wellbeing.
Our 2021 discussion paper provides greater detail about these impacts and the importance of the cultural determinants of health. Our 2023 policy position paper and business case highlight the importance of our leadership on climate and advocate for the establishment of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Coalition on Climate and Health.
Our 2025 discussion paper, ‘Indigenous-led Rights-based Approaches to Climate Litigation’, examines the intersection between Indigenous rights, human rights, environmental rights, and climate action.
This paper was published ahead of our 4th International Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference, during which we hosted the panel session, ‘Enhancing Resilience to Climate Change and Protecting Country and Culture’, featuring the wise voices of Francis Nona (Dhoeybaw clan); Coreen Parker and Johnell Parker (Banjima Native Title Aboriginal Corporation), and climate activists from Aotearoa NZ, Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Kahu Elder Mike Smith and Hinekaa Mako (Taranaki Whānui, Whanganui nui tonu).
In this session, the panellists reflected on how the wide-ranging impacts of climate change are affecting the health and wellbeing of Indigenous communities, from remote and regional areas to urban centres, and how we can seek concrete actions from governments and the private sector.
Download documents
Business case for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Coalition on Climate and Health
