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.
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.
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.
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 COP21 – the UN Climate change conference that took place in France in 2015 – it was decided to establish a knowledge-sharing platform on climate action for 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.
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.
Peruvian government carries on with “greenwashing plan” leading towards the COP 20.
The Unity Pact of Indigenous Organizations of Peru questioned the allocation of a single indigenous participation space in the National Climate Change Commission (NCCC).
Paris, 3 December 2015
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.
This week, the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action is meeting in Bonn. On this occasion, the Special Procedures mandate-holders of the Human Rights Council, in an open letter, call upon States to respect, protect, promote and fulfil human rights for all in all climate change related actions
During the recent UNFCCC Climate Change Conference in Bonn (June 4-15), the Peruvian government delegation expressed a clear commitment to facilitate indigenous peoples’ participation in the upcoming COP 20.
IWGIA - International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs - is a global human rights organisation dedicated to promoting, protecting and defending indigenous peoples’ rights. Read more.
IWGIA's global report, the Indigenous World, provides an update of the current situation for indigenous peoples worldwide. Read The Indigenous World.
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