Climate change disrupts indigenous peoples’ way of living and damage their livelihoods. Indigenous peoples should, therefore, be heard and included in national climate action.
The Paris Agreement and the Global Goals provide new opportunities for indigenous peoples.
IWGIA supports that the knowledge, experiences and rights of indigenous peoples will be truly included in international climate action.
Many of our world’s ecosystems and most biodiverse areas are being protected and nurtured by indigenous peoples. Their contributions to climate mitigation should be acknowledged and respected.
Indigenous peoples across the world face the consequences of climate change. Indigenous peoples must, therefore, be heard and included in global, national and local climate action.
Indigenous peoples are particularly vulnerable to climate change and yet the least responsible. Indigenous peoples have a lifestyle, hold traditional knowledge and are highly motivated to drive solutions to overcome climate changes.
Many of our world’s ecosystems and biodiversity areas are being protected and nurtured by indigenous peoples. The contributions to climate mitigation and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples are increasingly being acknowledged and referred to in international agreements and declarations.
Indigenous peoples face climate change
Rising temperatures, rising sea levels and unpredictable weather hit indigenous peoples from the Amazon to the highlands of Myanmar dramatically. Indigenous peoples often live in our world’s most biodiversity-rich areas, rely on existing ecosystems and depend on nature. But widespread changes in our climate disrupt indigenous peoples’ way of living and damage their livelihoods.
Many indigenous people are being forced to relocate as their traditional lands become uninhabitable due to climate change.
Indirect consequences of climate action
Extreme weather and rising sea levels pose a direct threat to indigenous peoples’ lives and societies. Some mitigation measures may also have undesirable direct and indirect consequences for indigenous communities.
Renewable energy projects and climate action plans are sometimes developed without including or consulting indigenous peoples. The lands of indigenous peoples are seen as fertile ground for the establishment of biofuel plantations, wind power projects and hydroelectric dams.
The construction of large-scale energy projects often happens without their ‘Free, Prior and Informed Consent’ – the international principle that states that indigenous communities must be informed and heard on issues that affect their lands and lives.
The consequences for indigenous peoples are further marginalisation, dispossession and displacement.
The Paris Agreement and the Global Goals
In 2015 the Paris Agreement was adopted as a global action plan to avoid climate change. Indigenous peoples are mentioned in the Paris Agreement:
“Parties should respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on (…) the rights of indigenous peoples.”
In 2016, UN member states agreed on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with the ambition of “leaving no one behind”. IWGIA sees the international commitments as a window of opportunity for truly including the knowledge, experiences and rights of indigenous peoples in climate action.
International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (WGIA) and Denmark have long pushed for the adoption of a “GCF Indigenous Peoples Policy” in the Green Climate Fund, that every year allocates billions of dollars to climate projects. Just recently this policy was finally approved. “This is an important step towards recognizing indigenous peoples’ rights in climate actions,” says Senior Advisor Kathrin Wessendorf from IWGIA.
In a global manifesto released today, a coalition of more than 300 civil society organizations from 53 countries called on governments and financiers at the Paris climate talks to keep large hydropower projects out of climate initiatives such as the Clean Development Mechanism, the World Bank’s Climate Investment Funds, and green bonds.
Why is climate change not only an environmental issue? This was the focus of a panel debate IWGIA and Forests of the World organized at the Danish Parliament last week. The objective was to pave the way for the upcoming discussions at COP22 in Morocco and reflect on Denmark’s commitments to ensure indigenous peoples’ rights within the global initiatives.
Indigenous peoples representatives from all over the world have been following the negotiations of the forthcoming global climate change agreement, which will be adopted by the UN at the Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris at the end of the year.
On October 17, indigenous peoples together with the Peruvian and French COP Presidencies organised an official dialogue with States, at which they made demands for greater inclusion of human rights standards and safeguards in the Paris Agreement and the COP decisions.
IWGIA - International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs - is a global human rights organisation dedicated to promoting, protecting and defending indigenous peoples’ rights. Read more.
Indigenous World
IWGIA's global report, the Indigenous World, provides an update of the current situation for indigenous peoples worldwide. The Indigenous World 2019.
