Indigenous Peoples have long called for national and global actions to tackle the root causes of climate and environmental destruction and associated rights abuse. They have additionally demanded that all international climate policies, funding, and initiatives must respect and protect their rights, cultures, and knowledge. They have insisted repeatedly that they be acknowledged and rewarded as key actors in climate solutions. Yet, from their experience, global climate policies developed and implemented to date have often marginalised their communities and failed to uphold their rights.
This briefing presents a rapid review of existing climate programmes and finance and their impacts on indigenous peoples. This review also flags several new so-called ‘green’ finance and sustainable trade initiatives as well as funds and market-based instruments that are being showcased by governments, large NGOs, and big business at the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), herein after COP26. These global initiatives that will be launched during COP26 are being proposed as possible solutions to the climate crisis affecting the planet and all of humanity.
