Kera Sherwood-O’Regan
New Zealand (Māori)
Expertise:
Climate Change & Environment
Human Rights
Co-Founder and Impact Director
Kera Sherwood-O'Regan (Kāi Tahu) is an Indigenous and disabled climate justice expert and community advocate from Te Waipounamu, the South Island of New Zealand. She is the co-founder of Activate, an Indigenous and disabled-led social impact agency specializing in ethical campaigning and narratives for climate justice and social change. Working in partnership with NGOs, governments and their agencies, and affected communities, Sherwood-O’Regan’s work centers structurally oppressed communities in social change movements to drive campaigns that are powerful, effective and equitable.
Her creative practice explores themes of story sovereignty, right relationship and collective consent in community storytelling and seeks to raise the bar for free, prior and informed consent in media and campaigning. Sherwood-O’Regan’s practice is grounded in kaupapa Māori approaches and is informed by more than 15 years’ experience in the climate movement.
Sherwood-O’Regan is passionate about bridging gaps and building strong relationships across Indigenous and disabled people's organizations (IPOs & DPOs), and environmental NGOs to strengthen Indigenous and disability inclusion in climate campaigning globally and locally. She has participated annually, since COP23, in the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change. As a founding member of the SustainedAbility Disability and Climate Network, Sherwood-O’Regan has built relationships with ministers, officials and broader civil society to highlight the effects of climate change on her communities while advocating for greater recognition of the rights of Indigenous people and people with disabilities in the climate negotiations.
Highlights from her international work include:
- Delivering the closing address for Indigenous peoples’ organizations at COP25 in Madrid
- Ongoing campaign work for a disability constituency within the UNFCCC
- Moderating the first side event dedicated to disability rights and climate change, hosted by the Indigenous Peoples’ Pavilion at COP26
Recent writings include co-authoring two works within Climate Aotearoa, edited by former New Zealand prime minister and former UNDP administrator Right Honourable Helen Clark: From threat to opportunity: Climate change and health in Aotearoa with Dr. Rhys Jones and Nothing about us without us: Climate change and disability justice with Jason Boberg. She has also contributed to Bronwyn Hayward’s Children, Citizenship and Environment.
Sherwood-O’Regan is a member of the National Executive Committee for the Disabled Persons Assembly, New Zealand’s only pan-impairment DPO, and is the founder of Fibromyalgia Aotearoa NZ, bringing visibility and support to people living with chronic illness. She is a climate reality leader and a regular public speaker and commentator, bringing an intersectional lens to climate change policy and campaigning. Her most important work, and lifelong journey, is strengthening her connection with her whenua (land), tūpuna (ancestors), reo (language) and whānauka (extended relations) at home in Te Waipounamu.
Tribal affiliations
- Iwi (tribes): Kāi Tahu; Kāti Mamoe; Waitaha
- Marae: Moeraki (Moeraki); Te Rau Aroha (Awarua/Bluff)