The Centre for Environmental Law and Sustainability and the Bristol Socio-Legal Centre at the University of Bristol Law School, the Holistic Sustainable Development Network (HSDN) International and PROYASHEE will host the 12th Sustainability Collaborative Conference and the 2nd Meeting of the Indigenous Sustainability Network in November 2026.
Researchers, policymakers, professionals, and community members from Indigenous nations/tribes and countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America will speak to the conference theme, “Diversity and Inclusion for Sustainable Societies.” We will focus narrowly on diversity and inclusion values, ideas, policies, institutions, and systems, their impacts, strengths and weaknesses, and solutions in the transition toward sustainable societies. Members of the Indigenous Sustainability Network will also meet to discuss multiple projects. These projects will generate knowledge on the hybridity of western-Indigenous, state and non-state, and national and international actors and systems in conceptualizing the field of "Pluriversal Law" based on sustainability experiences.
* Opening Keynote Speakers, 1pm-2pm, Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger FRSC FRSA WIJA, PhD, Dphil, MEM, LLB & BCL, BA Hons, and Wayne Garnons-Williams, BA, LLB, MPA, LLM, BA, LLB, MPA, LLM
• Professor Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger WIJA holds the Chair in Sustainable Development Law and Policy in the University of Cambridge, Lucy Cavendish College, where she is also a fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law. She also serves as Senior Director of the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), as President of the global Sustainable Development Governance and Law Association (SDGLA) and as Vice-President of the International Law Association (ILA) of Canada, where she chairs the ILA’s experts committee on international law and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As author, with Prof Garnons-Williams, of 'Indigenous Peoples Inspiring Sustainable Development' with Cambridge University Press in 2026, and having published over 29 further books and more than 180 papers, she is an authority in her field. She serves as Executive Secretary for the UNFCCC Climate Law and Governance Initiative, and as Senior Legal Advisor to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Presidency her expertise supported drafting of the Paris Agreement and its rulebook. She also chairs the Convention on Biological Diversity COP17 Biodiversity Law and Governance Initiative, and serves as Vice-Chair of the UNESCO Voices of Future Generations Children's Rights Initiative. She holds PhDs from Oxford and Cambridge Universities, also masters and law degrees from Yale and McGill, and an honorary doctorate from Pazmany, and she is laureate of the Weeramantry International Justice Award (WIJA), the 2026 Global Sustainability Leadership Award and other prizes, including a Fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada, one of the country’s highest scholarly honours.
• Mr. Wayne Garnons-Williams is the founding President of the International Inter-tribal Trade and Investment Organization, Senior Lawyer, and Principal Director of the law firm Garwill Law Professional Corporation, and leads an international business entitled Indigenous Sovereign Trade Consultancy Ltd. specializing in Tribal Trade and Sustainable Economic Development.
He is the past Chair of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations Appeal Tribunal and is currently on the board of directors of the International Law Association – Canada chapter, Council of the Great Lakes Region, Capacity Canada and Board Chair of the 60’s Scoop Healing Foundation.
He is also a Research Fellow specializing in International Comparative Indigenous law at the University of Oklahoma, College of Law. He was appointed by Order in Council as a member to the NAFTA Chapter 19 Trade Remedies roster and then appointed in 2020 as a CUSMA Advisory Committee Member on Private Commercial Disputes, Article 31.22.
He has recently written four chapters and is co-editor for a textbook published by Cambridge University Press on International Indigenous Trade & Environmental law and is teaching a course based on his textbook as part of the Indigenous Entrepreneurship program at United College, University of Waterloo.
He is the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business 2019 Award winner for Excellence in Aboriginal Relations, the 2020 Queen’s University alumni award winner as well as the recipient of the 2020 Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL) - International Legal Specialist in Peace, Justice and Governance Award. He is Plains Cree from Treaty 6, Moosomin First Nation.
* Closing Keynote Speaker, 1.30-2.30pm, Omar Broderick, MBA, Director of Anti-Racism Initiatives, Anti-Racism Office, Executive Council Office, Government of Prince Edward Island
Our closing keynote speaker, Mr. Omar Broderick, is an executive leader, media artist, and community advocate based in Prince Edward Island. He currently serves as the Director of Anti-Racism Initiatives for the Government of Prince Edward Island, Canada. Blending public service with creativity, he is also a professional photographer and holds an Executive MBA from the University of Prince Edward Island.
To sign up for this event, please visit Eventbrite. The event will be hybrid, you will receive the joining link via your registration confirmation.