Chrissy Grant

Chrissy Grant is an Aboriginal (Kuku Yalanji from the Jalun-Warra clan) and Torres Strait Islander (Mualgal from Kubin on Moa Island) Elder with more than 40 years of work experience at the national and international level in cultural and natural resource management, heritage management, conservation. She worked as Director of Indigenous Heritage in the Australian Heritage Commission and then in the Department of Environment and Heritage at the federal level, implementing the new Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.  She works extensively with Indigenous peoples across the Wet Tropics and the Great Barrier Reef as traditionally the adjoining world heritage properties are situated over her traditional land and sea. She is currently a member of the World Commission on Protected Areas and ICOMOS Australia, the Chair of the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on World Heritage, the Co-Chair of the Advisory Committee for International Indigenous Repatriation of Human Remains, the Deputy Co-Chair of the Australian World Heritage Advisory Committee and the first Indigenous Chair appointed to Wet Tropics Management Authority Board. She has participated in international negotiations related to the Convention of Biological Diversity, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Committee and other related bodies. She is also member of a number of international committees to advance and improve the Indigenous peoples’ rights in protected areas and cultural heritage. She is the author of numerous publications on indigenous rights, indigenous-led management of protected areas and world heritage.