A/HRC/51/28 their leadership skills. They are overcoming barriers to participation by creating awareness, educating indigenous women on their rights, building their capacity as advocates and enlisting indigenous men as allies to support them in their efforts to increase their visibility and amplify their voices. A. North America 83. The Sturgeon Lake First Nation of Canada recently brought back their Cree birth practices that involve pre- and postnatal ceremonies and teachings. The First Nation is developing legislation to formalize the practice according to Cree knowledge systems, creation stories and cultural norms, and include provisions to recruit and train new midwives through the transmission of indigenous knowledge. Cree teachings will inform the architectural layout of a new birthing centre. B. Oceania 84. Many indigenous-led initiatives are taking place in Australia. The Pertame master apprentice programme brings native speakers of the Pertame language together with adult learners for camps and classroom teaching to strengthen language transfer and preservation. 85. Based on consultations across the country with nearly 2,300 indigenous women in 50 locations, including remote areas, in 2018 the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner of the Australian Human Rights Commission conducted a project entitled Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women’s voices). The findings provide evidence that women’s knowledge is critical for supporting families and communities, maintaining social cohesion, healing people from trauma and illness, and caring for land, water and animals, and should inform new policy models for environmental protection, the sciences, medicine, maternal health and child, disability, and aged care.75 86. The Kimberly Women Rangers of Australia collect and propagate seeds, maintain a seed bank and undertake revegetation. 76 The “Yanalangami: strong women, strong communities” is an Aboriginal-led leadership initiative that connects women to create a culturally safe community to share knowledge and provides an empowerment programme and professional development opportunities.77 87. In northern Australia, indigenous fire management practices to reduce the extent and severity of wildfires are well recognized and women play an important role in practising such conservation measures.78 In its 202 report, The Australian Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements stated that indigenous local knowledge had successfully informed land management for tens of thousands of years.79 88. In the Pacific regions, the International Solomon Islands Development Trust seeks to preserve and record indigenous knowledge and practices regarding prevention measures and response mechanisms to mitigate the effects of natural disasters, including storm surges, cyclones, sea erosion, flooding, sea-level rise and tsunamis. Elders, women and men, have provided oral and written indigenous knowledge as part of an assessment to develop community disaster plans and proved that scientifically accurate indigenous knowledge has enhanced conventional disaster risk reduction techniques. The intergenerational knowledge transmission resulted in the younger generation acknowledging and valuing the importance of indigenous knowledge, which has led to its revival and increased self-esteem.80 75 76 77 78 79 80 Submission by the Australian Human Rights Commission. Ibid. See https://www.yanalangami.com.au. Dean Yibarbuk, “Fighting carbon with fire”, Our World, 10 September 2009. https://naturaldisaster.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/html-report/chapter-18. See IFAD, The Traditional Knowledge Advantage: Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge in Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies. 17