Treenet Symposium Speaker

Jack Collard

Biography

Jack is a young and proud Whadjuk-Ballardong Nyoongar man from Boorloo (Perth). In 2018 he was awarded a MADALAH tertiary scholarship to study at the University of Western Australia where he is majoring in Political Sciences, International Relations and Indonesian Studies for his Bachelor of Arts. In 2018 Jack had the opportunity to intern for Professor Megan Davis (Professor of Law and PVC Indigenous UNSW) at the United Nations Expert Mechanisms on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNEMRIP) in Geneva. Through the New Colombo Plan Scholarship Program he has also studied in the Indo-Pacific region, at the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and has interned at various NGOs in Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Japan and Timor Leste. At COP27 last November he opened the first Local Community and Indigenous Peoples Platform round table and addressed the table in the Nyoongar language. Through his studies and experience Jack is working to become more involved in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) in the future so that he can continue to learn from and contribute to First Nations peoples around the world.

with Catrina Luz Aniere

Catrina is co-founder and CEO of Millennium Kids, a non-profit environmental youth organization. Grown from a youth led annual conference in 1996, Millennium Kids is a dynamic organisation for young people who are engaged and empowered to identify community issues and create positive change. Millennium Kids nurtures and applies the passion for the environment shown by young people in an adult-dominated world, through a dynamic process that allows young people to learn new skills, identify their superpowers and tackle the big issues. Catrina led young people locally, regionally and internationally to work to address deforestation and loss of natural environments at the local level since 1991. Millennium Kids launched the Green Lab in 2020; a citizen science and action program designed by young people to increase, protect and monitor tree canopy within the Greater Perth. Green Lab was named a Top 14 Innovator project by the World Economic Forum in 2021. Catrina is an educator and she is currently a committee member on the newly formed Western Australia Tree Canopy Advocates.

Session Abstract

Green Lab – kids speaking for the trees

Since 1991 trees have been on the Millennium Kids agenda. Kids get it. Trees keep the planet cool, provide habitat for wildlife and are good for our health. In 1991 a project was established at a primary school in Western Australia that put a local piece of bushland at the centre of the curriculum. Over the next 20 years students planted trees there, monitored their progress, and worked with stakeholders to identify issues and challenges with the aim of integrating ongoing educational and land care opportunities into a long-term framework for the school. By 2005 many schools in the same local government area had adopted bushland and were actively caring for country but staff changes, other priorities, and a shift in the political landscape brought new challenges to environmental education. Through formal surveys and informally young people repeatedly called for greater tree protection and environmental care. In 2020 as young people were clamouring for change, to address their concerns about climate change and deforestation Millennium Kids launched a new program based on learnings from the previous decades. Green Lab was formed. Green Lab is a citizen science and action program designed by young people to increase, protect and monitor tree canopy within the Greater Perth area. This presentation explores a pathway to change, with the Millennium Kids at the helm, envisioning their 2071 and their ambition for 30% canopy cover across the Greater Perth metropolitan area.

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