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States have committed to respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples in climate action
by International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum, agencie
 
Dec. 2023
 
Indigenous Peoples’ Platform COP28 Call To Action
 
We cannot let future generations suffer like we do and call upon governments to look beyond mercantile laws and policies towards building a sustainable and resilient planet, not driven by power and money.
 
Distinguished delegates, We, the Indigenous Peoples’ Platform of the International Land Coalition (ILC), make this statement on behalf of our platform, which was created in Jordan in 2022 and brings together 33 Indigenous organizations around the world, representing nearly 2 million people. We are united by our call for the rights to our lands and territories.
 
The climate crisis is no longer a hypothetical future threat, but a catastrophic reality that weighs heavily on our territories and natural resources and undermines our very existence. For centuries, our lands were despoiled and our resources over-exploited as a result of polluting, market-driven policies.
 
We Indigenous Peoples are now suffering the consequences of these more than anyone else. Rivers no longer flow, wells and lakes have dried up, forests are being uprooted and burnt, oceans are being polluted and glaciers are melting because the ties between Mother Earth and her guardians have been severed.
 
These are grave times and the whole world depends on us, our wisdom, and our know-how to protect the most important remaining land-based carbon sinks on our planet, restore degraded ecosystems, and preserve biodiversity.
 
However, we will not succeed as long as colonial and neo-colonial laws and policies continue to expropriate and dispossess us from our lands and territories. Nor can we succeed when the active defense and protection of our lands and territories, as well as the assertion of free, prior, and informed consent and our right to self-determination, are unjustly labeled as terrorism, and we are marginalized and persecuted.
 
Our leaders and members are frequently subjected to arrests based on fabricated charges and red-tagging, and in more tragic cases, we are murdered or disappeared.
 
We therefore call upon governments to:
 
Respect and fully implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Recognize the critical role that our Peoples play in protecting global carbon sinks, and support us by ensuring tenure security for our lands and territories.
 
Stand up for those of us who protect our lands from destruction and ensure the safeguarding of Indigenous, Land and Environmental Defenders. Acknowledge, respect, and preserve our traditional knowledge, especially when it comes to food systems and sustainable land use practices, and respect our related rights to our seeds and our intellectual property.
 
Not evict us from our lands and territories in the name of fighting climate change and not mine our earth for transition minerals without our Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. When you engage us in climate finance, the same principles hold. Our right to say no and our right to equity must be respected, just as benefits must be shared fairly.
 
Finally, only design national climate policies with us, for we are the guardians of these lands and understand them better than you ever will.
 
We cannot let future generations suffer like we do and call upon governments to look beyond mercantile laws and policies towards building a sustainable and resilient planet, not driven by power and money.
 
Protect our rights as enshrined in the UNDRIP and respect our rights to land and territories, and we will work with you to preserve our planet for future generations.
 
http://www.landcoalition.org/en/newsroom/indigenous-peoples-platform-cop28-call-to-action/ http://www.landcoalition.org/en/newsroom/stop-evictions-of-the-ogiek-in-kenya
 
Nov. 2023
 
The International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum (IIPFCC) on Climate Change Caucus delivered this statement at the conference’s opening plenary on the opening day of COP28, November 30th, 2023. Pema Wangmo Lama Mugum, an Indigenous youth activist belonging to the Mugum Indigenous Community from Nepal, was selected by the IIPFCC to deliver the statement to the COP28 Presidency:
 
“We greet you in a good way, Tashi Delek and Chyag! We congratulate all for the operationalization and pledges for the Loss and Damage Fund. We demand for a meaningful process including direct access to the fund for Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous Peoples are facing increasing disasters in our homelands as States fail in their commitment to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. In 2023, this global cap was exceeded, threatening our ways of life in Asia and around the world.
 
Our inherent, distinct, internationally-recognized rights are affirmed in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We will not allow these rights to be diminished, undermined, combined or confused in any way. We have the right to full and direct participation, including for our youth, women, and knowledge holders, in all UNFCCC processes.
 
This includes the development of a strong Article 6 grievance mechanism, loss and damage strategies that prioritize prevention, just transition that respects our rights and knowledge, and the creation of finance and funding mechanisms that are designed by and directly accessible to Indigenous Peoples from all regions.
 
Carbon markets and offsets, geo-engineering, mal-adaptation technologies, “Net Zero” frameworks and “Nature-based solutions” do not cut emissions and instead create new forms of colonization, militarization, criminalization and land loss. We call for a moratorium on such activities that violate our rights.
 
Real solutions require drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions based on the equitable phase out of fossil fuels. States have committed to respect and promote the rights of Indigenous Peoples in climate action. The Global Stock Take must consider all elements of the Paris Agreement.
 
We commit to work with States to implement real solutions based on our knowledge, practices, time-tested sciences, reciprocity with the natural world and Mother Earth, and the full exercise of our rights. Our collective survival is at stake and our children and future generations require action without delay.
 
http://www.iipfccpavilion.org/stories/openingcop28 http://www.iipfcc.org/key-issues http://iwgia.org/en/component/tags/tag/climate.html http://interactive.carbonbrief.org/carbon-offsets-2023/mapped.html http://www.carbonbrief.org/webinar-how-can-carbon-offsets-be-reformed/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc5431-green-financing-just-transition-protect-rights-indigenous http://www.conservation.org/press-releases/2023/12/01/statement-brazil-proposal-for-the-amazon-is-a-leap-in-the-right-direction


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Scale of conflict between mineral mines and indigenous peoples revealed
by Institute of Development Studies
 
New research shows that out of 120 active mineral mine projects in Argentina and Chile, over 50 percent (61) are in conflict. In Chile, the majority of mineral mines are in conflict, with indigenous peoples in many cases, who are left to risk their wellbeing to protest against the lithium and copper mining in order to protect their lands and the environment.
 
The new research published today by the Institute of Development Studies highlights that this resistance against the environmental and social problems caused by mining activities comes at significant costs for the local communities.
 
It argues that instead of leaving indigenous peoples and civil society groups to enter into conflict against the mining projects, governments need to establish formal governance processes, providing proactive long-term negotiations and democratic processes.
 
Without it, it warns that the mineral mining at the scale required for the global energy transition won’t be achievable.
 
The demand for critical minerals such as lithium and copper, needed for electric vehicles and wind farms, is predicted to increase up to 500 percent in the next ten years as the global energy transition required to combat climate gathers pace.
 
In Chile, the world’s leading provider of copper and second of lithium (after Australia), the research found that around US$12 billion of investments – 80 percent of total investments submitted to the Environmental Authority (SEA) – were contested by civil society between 1998 and 2022, with 1 in 5 (21%) currently held up in the justice system.
 
Globally, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), an estimated 54% of energy transition minerals are located on or near indigenous peoples’ land, underscoring the need for robust and early community engagement. Over 80% of lithium projects and more than half of nickel, copper and zinc projects are located in the territories of indigenous peoples.
 
Anabel Marin, Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies and author of the report, sa
 
“The entire governance frameworks of natural resources need to be re-designed, bringing a proactive and democratic approach to a vital economic area. By involving local people at an early stage and co-creating policies for mining projects, governments can avoid costly conflic
 
“This transformation in how the mining of minerals is managed is vital in order to move from fossil fuels to cleaner energy. Without it the energy transition will be unjust, environmentally unsustainable and unachievable
 
The research report makes clear that the scale of the challenge to resolve mining conflicts is vast but including citizens in co-producing the investment policies for critical minerals, instead of leaving them to act as a watchdog to prevent environmental and social harm, is the best chance there is for a just energy transition.
 
http://www.ids.ac.uk/press-releases/scale-of-conflict-between-mineral-mines-and-indigenous-peoples-revealed/


 

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