Climate Justice: Indigenous Peoples

In honor of Monday being Indigenous Peoples Day, for this week’s snippet, we are focusing on climate justice. More specifically, the role Indigenous Peoples play in safeguarding our planet’s biodiversity and why they need to be protected fairly. ‍

Carbon Brief defines climate justice as a reshaping of climate action from a technical effort to cut emissions into an approach that also addresses human rights and social inequality.

This definition rings especially true in light of recent events.

Indigenous Peoples are on the frontlines of many current climate campaigns, including:
- Keeping fossil fuels in the ground
- Protecting clean water
- Safe harboring wildlife
- Land stewardship

While it’s critical to escalate solutions rapidly, they will never scale to the extent that they need to if they do not account for the lived experiences of all individuals.

‍Although Indigenous Peoples comprise less than 5% of the world's population, they protect 80% of the planet’s existing biodiversity. All of our climate solutions need to be inclusive of the very people who have been protecting for all the years leading up to this point.

With a true connection to nature and a holistic approach to  preventing climate change, Indigenous Peoples have been in the driver’s seat of this work for years. Organizations like Indigenous Environmental Network, Honor the Earth, Indigenous Climate Action, Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo (KUA), Native Conservancy, Seeding Sovereignty, and many more are ensuring that we are accounting for, respecting, and learning from the people who have been paving the way for centuries.