Land Rights, Environmental Justice, and Palestine: In Conversation with Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh

Join us to hear first-hand from one of Palestine’s foremost environmental experts Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh, visiting Australia for the first time, in conversation with local Palestinian, First Nations and environmental justice advocates. Connect with others working to grow the global solidarity movement for peace, land rights and environmental justice.

Founder and Director of the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability, Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh says:

"There is both a genocide and an ecocide going on, supported by some Western governments against the will of the Western public." 

We are witnessing unprecedented violence and destruction throughout Palestine - especially the Gaza Strip. Over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, and thousands more are missing under the rubble. The occupied West Bank has also been targeted with raids and the detention of thousands of Palestinian people.

An enormous global movement is rising to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, to end decades of colonisation, and work toward a free Palestine that delivers sustainable peace for all in the region. 

For over 75 years, Palestinians have resisted occupation, dispossession, and ethnic cleansing. The environmental impacts of the occupation and destruction of Palestine are less understood: water sources have been restricted, destroyed and polluted; habitat loss is pushing species like wolves, gazelles, and hyenas to the brink; destruction of crops and farmland drives food insecurity; and climate change is already impacting Palestine and its people.

Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh wrote recently, “The status of the Palestinian environment, like the state of Palestine in general, is catastrophic under colonialism… It is incumbent on all people of good will, those who genuinely seek a sustainable future, to intensify the effort to end the decades of apartheid and colonization… As noted from the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets to protest the ongoing assault and demand a ceasefire, Palestine is a global issue. What has received less attention is that war and conflict are also a climate change issue. A sustainable planet requires the end of colonization.”

Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh is a Palestinian scientist and author. He is a founder and director of the Palestine Museum of Natural History (PMNH) and the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (PIBS) and teaches at the University of Bethlehem and Birzeit University. You can see a short video about the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability here and read more at www.palestinenature.org

We will be meeting together on Nakba day - May 15th - the commemoration of the destruction of Palestinian society and homeland in 1948, and the permanent displacement of a majority of the Palestinian people.

Appetisers will be provided with gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options. If you have any dietary, access, or support requirements in order to attend, please let us know when you RSVP to ensure that we can arrange any adjustments. The venue is accessible for people using wheelchairs and other mobility aids.

This event is co-hosted by Free Gaza Australia, Students for Palestine, Palestine Action Group Canberra, ANU Law Reform and Social Justice, 350 Canberra, Move Beyond Coal Canberra, and Rising Tide Canberra.

Please note: This event will be a space free of racism, including zero tolerance for anti-Palestinian, Islamophobic and anti-semitic communication and behaviour.

Questions and enquiries about the event: qumsiyehtourcanberra@gmail.com