In Australia, evidence is mounting that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are and will continue to be disproportionately affected by direct and indirect health impacts of climate change. This pattern is mirrored across the world, with evidence now from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that Indigenous peoples are more vulnerable to climate change.
This latter finding is noteworthy. In particular, with three decades of research into climate change, the IPCC scientists have only recently acknowledged the ongoing role of colonialism as a driver of climate change. This explicit recognition allows acknowledgment of the historical injustices that shape the present day, including the unequal impacts of climate change.
Climate litigation is a complex category of litigation that is constantly changing as new forms of evidence and claims are accommodated in the juridical spaces. One of the more visible categories is rights-based litigation, which refers to cases emerging from ‘the ways in which national constitution, human rights law and other laws in general, imbue individuals and communities with rights to climate mitigation and adaptation action.'
Recent analyses of climate litigation have found climate rights cases documented in countries across the world, however, many of these cases do not see a positive outcome due to, among other factors, financial resources, intimidation, and lack of procedural and strategic ‘know-how’.
In this paper, we argue that a more in-depth analysis of rights-based climate litigation is required. Especially given the inequitable impacts of climate change on Indigenous peoples globally, and the potential structural barriers such as ongoing colonisation that tend to affect government responsiveness and responsibility, there is a compelling need to understand how climate litigations may be used strategically.
More broadly, the report aims to analyse Indigenous-led climate litigation and to consider implications, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the Australian legal context.
Authors: Nona, F., Matthews, V., Lansbury, N., Vine, K., & Ireland, L. 2025, Indigenous-led Rights-based Approaches to Climate Litigation, Discussion paper. Lowitja Institute, Melbourne.
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Thanks for use of the front cover photo by Wayne Quilliam.