Annie Kia
Annie Kia
Community leader, eco activist, grassroots democracy
Annie Kia works with communities to defend themselves from invasive gasfields and coal, and destructive dams.
Annie has a strong belief in our ability to effect change, together. Her heroes include Martin Luther King, Mohandas Gandhi, and the untold millions who have worked together to achieve the impossible through nonviolent solidarity.
Her work is informed by network and complexity theory. She’s keen for those of us who deal with interacting humans to become fluent in these concepts so we can liberate human ingenuity and get bang-for-buck for each donation dollar.
She helped develop a grassroots democracy process whereby communities declare themselves “Gasfield Free” after comprehensive local surveys. Across Australia, more than 420 communities have now empowered themselves via this communal act of hope and defiance.
Most recently, she has been at the forefront of protests against the proposed Dunoon Dam, and is the spokesperson for the Northern Rivers Water Alliance.
Previously, she has been community engagement coordinator for “Lock The Gate”, a national alliance of community groups resisting coal and unconventional gasfields. Prior to that she worked in Health Promotion where she applied complexity concepts to a regional collaboration to address climate change.