Including Indigenous Knowledge in global climate governance

Ten years ago, at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (COP21), Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge was recognized for its importance in responding to climate change. Two years later, COP23 resulted in the establishment of the Local Community and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP). COP24 went even further, establishing the platform’s Facilitative Working Group as a UNFCCC body. GUNN-BRITT RETTER explains the LCIPP’s work, progress to date, and the challenges ahead.

The Arctic’s rapid rate of climate change is having direct, immediate effects on the lands and waters that Indigenous Peoples depend upon—and Indigenous Peoples are putting their heads together to find solutions.

For example, in 2023, holders of Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge from across the Arctic met in Norway to have powerful conversations about climate solutions, drawing on time-tested knowledge passed down through generations.

The LCIPP event emphasized that Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge is crucial for developing effective strategies for climate action and resilience. Participants urged global climate decision-makers to make use of Indigenous Peoples’ perspectives in policies, highlighting the Arctic’s fragility and its significance to the global climate balance. They also called for direct access to climate finance to empower efforts led by Indigenous Peoples toward adaptation and mitigation.

Exchanging knowledge

The input that the working group provides to the other workstreams builds on the LCIPP workplan. The most valuable element, in my view, is the annual gathering of Knowledge Holders at COP meetings, where they have the opportunity to share their observations and solutions to climate change based on the ecosystems where they live. Through these gatherings, they get to know each other and discuss their experiences.

For example, Sámi reindeer herders might meet nomadic herders from Africa and discover cultural similarities. Based on such exchanges, knowledge can emerge—for example, that rotational use of land is a good solution for climate change adaptation. Challenges may also be shared, such as the experience of competing for land use with mining and energy industries, in the name of mitigating climate change or response measures to climate change.

The Arctic was among the sociocultural regions that was able to organize a regional gathering of Knowledge Holders during the LCIPP’s second three-year workplan (2022 to 2024). This was a venue for Sámi fishers, collectors, duojárs (handcrafters) and reindeer herders to share their knowledge and convey messages that negotiators can learn from. Significantly, the report from this event became a formal UN document.

It is important to note that as Indigenous experts in the working group, we have the same duty that we ask others to take on—that is, to act ethically, to be cautious when applying Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge, and to be careful not to take things out of context. Still, this work is an opportunity to link many voices and observations to generate messages and calls to action for decision-makers at both the COP and national levels.

Although I see many opportunities where Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge can inform UNFCCC decision-making, the working group does not negotiate on behalf of Indigenous Peoples. That role is held by the Indigenous UNFCCC participants and coordinated through the Indigenous Peoples caucus, known as the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change.