Indigenous Peoples: Defending an Environment for All

The document examines the role of Indigenous Peoples as stewards of 80% of the world's remaining biodiversity and their historical struggle for recognition within the United Nations and multilateral environmental agreements. It highlights the tension between Western commodified views of nature and Indigenous holistic perspectives, noting that while instruments like the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol have made strides in recognizing traditional knowledge, climate frameworks like the UNFCCC and initiatives like REDD+ continue to marginalize Indigenous voices and rights. The brief concludes that achieving global sustainability requires moving beyond tokenism to respect Indigenous self-determination and leadership.

• Indigenous Peoples are highly effective environmental stewards, with their lands comprising approximately 20% of Earth's territory but containing 80% of the world's remaining biodiversity.
• The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), adopted in 2007, establishes the right to self-determination and emphasizes collective land rights and the requirement for free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) for major projects on Indigenous territories.
• The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Nagoya Protocol have provided unprecedented spaces for Indigenous participation and the recognition of traditional knowledge, including the requirement for prior informed consent (PIC) for accessing genetic resources.
• Despite efforts to bridge the gap between Western science and traditional knowledge, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) continues to struggle because power remains concentrated within the Western scientific worldview.
• Climate change mitigation measures, such as biofuel plantations, dams, and nuclear power plants, can paradoxically harm Indigenous communities by causing land grabs, community displacement, and restricting access to natural resources.
• The UNFCCC has historically marginalized Indigenous Peoples, failing to recognize them as a constituency until 2001 and omitting them from the 1992 framework; the 2015 Paris Agreement also failed to fully integrate their knowledge and practices.
• The REDD+ initiative is criticized for its materialist view of forests and for potentially restricting Indigenous access to forest resources; some communities in the Amazon, specifically in Peru, have proposed an alternative Indigenous version of REDD+ based on collective rights and self-determination.

APA

(Dr.),, E. R. H. (2022). Indigenous Peoples: Defending an Environment for All. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/indigenous-peoples-defending-environment-all

Chicago

(Dr.),, Eugenia Recio,Dina Hestad. Indigenous Peoples: Defending an Environment for All. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2022. https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/indigenous-peoples-defending-environment-all.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=(Dr.), |first1=Eugenia Recio,Dina Hestad |title=Indigenous Peoples: Defending an Environment for All |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=22 April 2022 |url=https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/indigenous-peoples-defending-environment-all |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{dr2022indigenous, author = {(Dr.),, Eugenia Recio,Dina Hestad}, title = {{Indigenous Peoples: Defending an Environment for All}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2022}, month = apr, url = {https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/indigenous-peoples-defending-environment-all}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }