Indigenous Peoples' Day 2024: Protecting rights and traditions for both people and the planet

Changing land use and environmental degradation are threatening the voluntary isolation of indigenous peoples.  Indigenous peoples the world over occupy or use nearly a quarter of the world’s land. They have been nature’s custodians for generations and are a wealth of knowledge, especially today, as we face the environmental challenges brought on by the climate crisis. Despite the crucial role that they play in preserving and honoring nature, Indigenous peoples are often deprived of the right to manage the very land that they have occupied for generations.

This year’s International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples focuses on “Protecting the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact.” Indigenous Peoples in voluntary isolation are the best protectors of the forest, and when their collective rights to lands and territories are protected, both nature and people thrive.

Around 200 groups of Indigenous Peoples currently live in voluntary isolation and initial contact,  in the remote forest across the globe. Living this way allows them to engage in hunting and gathering, thereby preserving their culture, rich heritage, languages, and traditions. They have an interconnected relationship with their natural environment, in that any changes to their habitat can impact the survival of the entire group as a whole. Indigenous Peoples in voluntary isolation often face unique challenges and are especially impacted by globalization, which spurs economic growth and technology, yet simultaneously impacts environmental sustainability and social equity. Under the guise of development the world over, we see increasing deforestation and the destruction of natural habitats which are threatening the lives, traditions, and livelihoods of these Indigenous groups. As nature’s generational custodians, they deserve the protection of their traditions, culture, knowledge, their homes, and the agency to live their lives the way they choose.

For ClimBeR, our overall goal of building smallholder resilience through transformative systems adaptation cannot take place without the integration of local and Indigenous voices, knowledge, and traditions to both address the root causes of vulnerability and to co-create locally relevant and scalable solutions. Through our partnerships, we work to ensure that the voices of Indigenous Peoples are heard and integrated into wider decision-making processes.

We do so in several ways:

• One of the current gaps that exists is that as much as we have the presence of indigenous peoples in climate change negotiations, there is not much evidence or documentation on how their voices have influenced negotiations in the past. Voices of Change: Championing Indigenous Peoples and local community voices of change, the CGIAR Initiative on Climate Resilience (ClimBeR) partnered with the Centre for Minority Rights Development (CEMIRIDE), a not-for-profit organization that leads indigenous peoples’ climate-resilient advocacy in Kenya. Profiling people and groups of diverse backgrounds and experiences, this collection of video stories hints at the nuanced understandings of diverse climate-resilient agricultural practices that exist within the Ogiek and Endorois communities. These stories include positive, successful initiatives that can influence adaptation and be used as part of climate action programming, and are just the beginning. Learn more about our Voices of Change series here. Here’s how we worked to ensure that Indigenous Voices mattered at COP28.
• We need a greater presence, more evidence, and even more stories out there. There are more dimensions to how climate change impacts Indigenous communities, including how climate change impacts the security of individuals, causes forced migration, and so on; all areas that CEMIRIDE and CGIAR are exploring together. Sharing these stories is a means of generating and providing the evidence that is currently missing. Learn more about how CGIAR and CEMIRIDE are working together to ensure that Indigenous Peoples have a seat at the table and not just on the sidelines.
• The other missing piece here is strengthening the capacity of indigenous peoples and communities so that they can participate in negotiations.  We need to work together, through effective partnerships, such as those we have highlighted here, to ensure that indigenous communities, the marginalized, and the underrepresented are given the training needed so that they can be a part of technical negotiations that determine their future.
• Indigenous Peoples’ participation in environmental governance is one of several key pathways through which they actively engage with nature. While their contributions have often been underrepresented in international climate negotiations processes and fora, in recent years, this has begun to change. Climate justice, therefore, must ensure Indigenous Peoples’ right to full and effective participation in policy processes. This requires a more explicit focus on and context-specific understanding of social equity which allows for greater participation of the most vulnerable, even within Indigenous communities. Read the complete opinion piece here to learn more about how ClimBeR’s social inclusion research highlights what needs to be done to ensure that Indigenous Peoples completely and meaningfully engage in climate policy processes for more equitable and inclusive outcomes.
• Indigenous communities have an intrinsic relationship with their land and nature. Today’s ever-changing political, social, and cultural contexts, however, are changing the way of life for many indigenous communities the world over. Coupled with the exploitation of their generational natural resources often means that indigenous communities, their culture, practices, and knowledge, are inherently excluded from many spaces. Indigenous youth, however, are changing this dynamic. As the agents and voices of change, using technology, by developing solutions that affect their communities from the bottom-up and demanding a place at the forefront of decision-making that affects their lives and the lives of their communities, today’s Indigenous youth are reclaiming their power and agency. While this can be seen on many fronts, it is especially true in how Indigenous youth have become the catalysts of climate action. Learn more here.
• Kenya’s Indigenous peoples are among those most affected by climate impacts with almost 9 million out of Kenya’s 47 million people belonging to indigenous communities. With knowledge attuned to the specific ecosystems of their territories, many are uniquely positioned to play a leading role in generating climate-resilient food and agricultural systems, in ways crucial for equitable transformation. For local climate action to succeed in Kenya, it is important to integrate understanding based on the particular circumstances of indigenous peoples. Ensuring representation, agency and a meaningful voice in decision-making is critical. All stakeholders, including indigenous communities themselves, must address social equity in response to the impacts of climate change on the agriculture sector. With attention to social equity comes the potential for building participatory parity to secure Indigenous people’s full participation in society through locally led, climate-resilient, transformative pathways. Learn more about how ClimBeR works to raise the social equity of Indigenous Peoples here.

Indigenous peoples are more than just nature’s custodians. They are also key stakeholders in national-level climate change policies and plans, and active custodians of the future of the planet and its people. We, as the international development community therefore, must work to ensure the protection of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and groups, as transformative adaptation to the climate crisis cannot take place without the integration of indigenous knowledge and practices. We must continue this work to ensure that their rights and traditions are protected for current and future generations so that both people and nature can thrive.

Related resources:

Opinion piece: Enhancing Indigenous Peoples’ participation in climate policy processes

Blog: ClimBeR at COP28: Ensuring that local voices matter

Blog:Raising Social Equity: Indigenous Peoples’ contributions to advancing sustainable agriculture in Kenya

Journal Article: Community voices on climate, peace, and security: A social learning approach to programming environmental peacebuilding 

Policy note: Preserving heritage, nurturing progress, raising social equity – policy advice on how Indigenous Peoples can advance sustainable agriculture in Kenya

Blog: #Weareindigenous: working towards a seat at the table, not just on the sidelines

Voices of Change video series: https://www.youtube.com/@cemiride/playlists

Blog: Voices of Change: Community stories of climate adaptation in Baringo, Kenya – CGIAR

Blog: Local knowledge for global decision-making

International Day text by Martina Mascarenhas, Communications Lead – CGIAR Research Initiative on Climate Resilience