Indigenous peoples and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Indigenous peoples have been engaged in the UNFCCC process since the year 2000, advocating for the agreements under the convention to recognize their special concerns and rights. The International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC) is the joint indigenous caucus in the UNFCCC process, a body that is open to those indigenous activists that wish to engage in the negotiations at any given time. Indigenous peoples’ NGOs can apply for observer status under the convention, and those that are accepted can nominate participants to the sessions of the different bodies under the convention.

Preparing for COP 15
Throughout 2009 indigenous peoples all over the world have been preparing for COP 15 in their own countries and regions, as well as jointly at the global level. These initiatives include regional indigenous summits on climate change in Latinamerica, Africa and Asia, and an Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change held in Anchorage, Alaska, in April 2009. All these meetings produced a large amount of documentation on how indigenous peoples experience the changing climate, and how they foresee their lifestyles, culture and very survival to be seriously threatened in the future. Most importantly, the meetings served as platforms to engage in the international policy process aorund COP15, and joint messages to the worlds’ climate change policy-makers were sent out from all meetings.