Jessica Panegyres' deep commitment to nature protection and climate justice has animated her working life. She has over a decade’s experience working across environmental advocacy, law, policy, and education, including campaign roles with Greenpeace and The Wilderness Society.
Jessica holds first class honours degrees in Law and Political Science from the University of Western Australia, and a Masters Degree in Politics and International Relations from the University of Oxford where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
Tell us about your personal connection with UWA and a little bit about your experience here
I loved my time at UWA. As an undergraduate I studied Arts and Law, which was a balance between the wisdom and critical thinking of the humanities and the applied thinking of law. My mind was expanded, I met some of my best friends there, and I just loved the beauty of the campus – the sandstone and the River. I also had the honour of doing some research, tutoring and lecturing at UWA and I loved that too. UWA is really special to me.
How was your time at UWA important to your life today?
In my last year at UWA, I was very fortunate to win a Rhodes Scholarship which took me to Oxford University. After finishing my MPhil in Politics and International Relations there, I’ve worked in Australia and globally as an educator, campaigner and advocate for climate and nature – for protecting the beautiful forests of Australia, Indonesia and the Amazon, for saving the Great Barrier Reef and for tackling climate change. My time at UWA gave me many of the essential skills for this work – not least the importance of rigorous thought and being open to changing your mind. And some of the teachers I had at UWA are still much-loved mentors and advisors that I am enduringly grateful for.
What is your passion and how do you want to make a difference in the world?
I’m passionate about protecting the environment and about social justice – I think the two go hand in hand. (I’m also passionate about music but that’s another topic!) The devastating bushfires last summer really brought home the impact that climate change is having on our day to day lives – from people who tragically lost their lives and homes, to people getting sick from smoke, to people losing their livelihoods, to the billion animals that perished. It’s made a lot of people think: we have to do everything we can to stop this getting worse. At the end of the day I hope I can hand-on-heart say I’ve done everything I can to contribute to a safe and healthy planet for future generations.
What has been the most interesting aspect of your career and where can it go from here?
Life as an environmentalist is never dull! From addressing the United Nations’ World Heritage Committee on live TV about the Great Barrier Reef, to running community town halls, every day is different. The highlight is always when you feel you’ve made a direct impact for the public good. I’ve drafted bills in Indonesia and Australia to protect forests that have been turned into laws. Just this year I was thrilled to see that a policy idea I’d designed with a colleague resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars invested in landscape restoration in Queensland. In terms of where my career can go, well my goal as an environmentalist is to actively put myself out of a job: to see solid and enduring protections for our natural world and a safe climate!
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