The Torres Strait Eight: Climate Litigation, Biodiversity, Human Rights and Indigenous Intellectual Property

In a case study focused on the Torres Strait Islands, this Chapter will explore the use of climate litigation in Australia to protect Indigenous intellectual property, cultural heritage, and biodiversity. It will consider a human rights complaint to protect Indigenous intellectual property and traditional knowledge. A group called the Torres Strait Eight – consisting of eight Indigenous Torres Strait Islanders - has brought a case to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, accusing the Australian Government of violating human rights by not adequately engaging in climate mitigation or climate adaptation. The action has been supported by the region’s land and sea council Gur A Baradharaw Kod (GBK) and represented by lawyers with leading environmental law non-profit ClientEarth. The Torres Strait Eight accused the Commonwealth of breaching their fundamental rights to culture, life and freedom from arbitrary interference by failing to adequately address climate change. UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, Professor David Boyd, and his predecessor, Professor John Knox, have filed a joint amicus brief for the Torres Strait Islanders with the Human Rights Committee. The Australian Government has responded to the claim of the Torres Strait Eight, and has asked for the matter to be dismissed. This chapter will also consider the petition by the Torres Strait Eight for climate law reform by the Australian Government, and the prospects that this international complaint by the Torres Strait Eight will be transformed into domestic climate litigation