Indigenous Peoples Platform

Indigenous Peoples and local communities face severe impacts as a result of climate change on their ecosystems, cultures, and rights, worsened by colonial legacies, which increase poverty and weaken their ability to adapt. Loss and damage impacts Indigenous Peoples across generations, affecting their culture, spirituality, and language. Many Indigenous Peoples see themselves as part of the natural world, experiencing spiritual and emotional harm as ecosystems decline.

The group calls for the Global North, as the main historical polluter, to take on the greater burden of financing climate action. It is however important to note that Indigenous Communities facing loss and damage exist not only within the Global South, but across all regions. With these funds, Indigenous groups prioritise preventing, reducing, and mitigating loss and damage, for example by reducing emissions, rather than seeking financial compensation after it has occurred.

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An important challenge to fair climate finance for Indigenous Peoples arises from the fact that the funds being pledged scarcely reach their communities, as legal mechanisms prohibit aid from actually reaching them. Indigenous organisations demonstrate that these challenges can be addressed. For instance, by establishing community funds, they provide members with the financial resources needed to implement their Indigenous knowledge effectively.

 

Did you know that Vanuatu, a small island nation in the Pacific, successfully petitioned the UN to seek an advisory opinion on climate justice from the International Court of Justice (ICJ)? The potential ICJ ruling could help establish stronger legal grounds for climate justice, empowering Indigenous groups to demand accountability from major polluters and ensuring fair compensation for loss and damage.