Our researcher Maria Helena Saari visited the Sydney Environment Institute to better understand what multispecies justice means in practice. She learned that comprehending multispecies justice as an invitation and a space to navigate through conflict can help us to support the wellbeing and flourishing of all.

When you hear the name Australia, what comes to your mind? For many it might be koalas and kangaroos, breathtaking beaches, gum trees, cricket, or perhaps Australia’s first peoples and languages.

For me it was all these things, having been lucky enough to have called Australia home as a child. Forever imprinted in my memory are the fresh scent of the gum trees after the rain and walking through the bush as cockatoos glide through the canopy above.

Now however, when I hear the name Australia, I think about multispecies justice.

Why? Australia is not only home to lush forests and iconic wildlife, but also to the Sydney Environment Institute (SEI), a pioneer in multispecies justice research, where I had the unique opportunity to visit as Visiting Fellow in April 2024. SEI is an important partner of the MUST project and the work carried out at SEI continues to be an inspiration to many across the world.

Sydney Environment Institute holds strong voices for multispecies justice

While the devastating effects of the climate crisis, particularly wildfires, are silencing voices in Australia as lives are lost and forests fall silent, some voices are getting stronger amidst the ruins. It is these voices I came to Sydney to hear (and if lucky, to the otherworldly screeches of flocks of cockatoos).

One of the strong voices from SEI is that of Danielle Celermajer whose first-hand experiences of wildfires is a reminder of the vulnerability of both humans and other species in the midst of the climate crisis. One of the many important projects at Sydney Environment Institute is one that looks at ways to better protect animals in catastrophic fires and how to support communities navigate collective trauma and loss. In Australia, as many other places, learning to live with climate change is not an abstract concept we must prepare for, but a lived ongoing reality.

I came to SEI wanting to better understand what multispecies justice is and what it might look like in practice. At a roundtable discussion organized by the fantastic team at SEI these were some of the many questions discussed.

Multispecies justice giving space for vital discussions

If we understand multispecies justice, as Celermajer explains, as an invitation and a space to navigate through conflict, we might find ourselves in a welcome space to share concerns, needs and questions. Holding space for difficult feelings can lead to conversations that open up new possibilities. Dialogue and listening to each other, to other animals, trees, insects and all the earth beings we share this planet with is important when we try to collectively find ways to live in ways that support the wellbeing and flourishing of all.

If you are interested in learning more about the work of the Sydney Environment Institute I encourage you to check out the SEI Podcast Series for a collection of thought-provoking conversations.

Interested in joining the conversation on what just multispecies transitions could look like? Connect with us in the MUST project on LinkedIn.

Writer: Maria Helena Saari, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Oulu, Co-leader of WP2 Unlearning with Other Species, maria.saari(at)oulu.fi

Picture: Maria Helena Saari