Janine Mohamed: reflections on the COP28 climate conference in Dubai

Atlantic Fellow in Social Equity, Janine Mohamed, reflects on her experience at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai.

As a proud Narungga Kaurna woman and a nurse, I have dedicated my career to the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – the First Peoples of the lands now known as Australia. I began my Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity journey in 2018 and am now approaching the end of my fifth year as the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Lowitja Institute, Australia’s national community-controlled institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research.

During my time as CEO, I have had the opportunity to support the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers, healthcare providers and communities as we strive to improve life outcomes for our peoples.

A large part of Lowitja Institute’s work is to ensure that the work we do meets the justice and equity priorities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Over the last five years the call for climate justice, particularly regarding the social and cultural determinants of health, has been loud and clear.

We are all deeply concerned for our families, communities, and future generations; therefore, climate change has been a key policy priority at Lowitja Institute. We advocate strongly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership and for our voices to be heard and included in climate change policy and solutions – in both the domestic and international spheres.

Lowitja Institute has released several publications in recent years focusing on the links between climate change and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, including a 2021 discussion paper.

Following on from that work, we engaged widely with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia during 2023 to further explore their concerns and priorities regarding climate and health. What came out of this engagement was a strong conviction that the best way to empower our communities in this policy space is to elevate our voices via a collective advocacy mechanism.

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_{Adjunct Professor Janine Mohamed, Atlantic Felow Social Equity, presenting at COP28, during the HEAL National Research Network discussion on ‘Transforming Australian, First Nations and Pacific Islands health responses to climate change’ (Photo :Paul Stewart, Lowitja Institute)}

Accordingly, in December 2023, Lowitja Institute published a position paper and business case in which we call for the establishment of a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Coalition on Climate and Health. We believe an advocacy mechanism like this would go a long way towards ensuring our voices are heard and our leadership is supported. It is also our aspiration that a Coalition will create a solid platform to further engage with our Indigenous brothers and sisters internationally.

We know that climate change is having profound impacts on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities’ health and wellbeing, in areas such as food and water security, heat distress and cultural destruction. First Nations peoples globally contribute the least to climate change – and yet we are impacted the most. Our aim is for a Coalition to share learnings, connect people and organisations, and be a leading contributor to global solutions.

In December 2023, I was supported by an Atlantic Fellows Connect Grant to attend COP28 in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) with two Atlantic Fellows from the global community, to listen and learn from each other with the objective of seeing whether we might be able to combine our expertise to collaborate on climate justice work. An opportunity for governments, environmentalists, and experts to come together, COP – the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – has been an annual event since 1995.

Over 80,000 people attended COP28, and it is hard to convey the magnitude of the event – both in its scale, and in the scope of the agenda. There were two zones: a Green Zone was open to anyone who had been accepted to attend COP, while the Blue Zone was harder to access, open only to accredited parties (nation-states) and observer delegates. I was extremely fortunate to be able to access the Blue Zone and experience it fully. This provided me the chance to connect with other prominent climate advocates from Australia, along with Atlantic Fellows, Rhodes Scholars and Indigenous peoples from around the world, to discuss ways that we can work together to address the climate crisis. Urging for a greater voice for First Nations peoples in climate discussions and action, I was able to contribute to the launch of Australia’s first National Climate and Health Strategy with Assistant Health Minister Ged Kearney.

During COP28 I also took part in a Healthy Environments and Lives National Research Network discussion on ‘Transforming Australian, First Nations and Pacific Islands health responses to climate change’, focused on shifting from deficit discourse to strength-based approaches. I also participated in a Monash University Sustainable Development Institute Panel on ‘Empowering communities for wellbeing and disaster resilience’.

In the Australia Pavilion, I spoke about climate change and First Nations health alongside Francis Nona, a proud Torres Strait Islander man from Badu Island and Lecturer in the Carumba Institute at the Queensland University of Technology, and Amba-Rose Atkinson, a Gumbaynggirr academic with the University of Queensland’s Poche Centre for Indigenous Health. I explained how connection to Country is a protective factor for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing, and that the cultural determinants of health must be central to policy and are foundational to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

I also discussed the urgent risks that climate change poses to the cultural determinants of our health, particularly for women, babies, and children. Recently the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the United Nations Population Fund have called for systemic action to protect pregnant women, babies and children from the extreme health risks posed by climate change and extreme weather events. Research shows that climate change acts as a ‘threat multiplier’ to health vulnerabilities and will only further exacerbate multiple causes of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality.

To those who may wish to attend COP in the future, my advice is to make sure you have a clear plan, advocacy goals and a clear purpose for your attendance. Be prepared. Study the agenda – there so much to see and learn. It is a long way from one pavilion to another, so you can miss out if you have not pre-planned where you want to be and what you want to see.

Some of the pavilions were phenomenal – each nation-state has one, and some of them were just so magnificent and impactful. They are worth a look! Some of them even give away free coffee and food, so if you are on a budget this might be helpful to know. ;)

But the highlight and cornerstone of my COP 28 experience was the opportunity to connect with my fellow Atlantic Fellows grant recipients and collaborators – Jordi Luke and Azeeza Rangunwala. I am so glad that I got to share this experience with them, and to learn, grow and plan for a future world together.

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