From 2 – 4 April 2008, UNU-IAS in conjunction with the Secretariat of United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) and the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA), convened a United Nations International Expert Group Meeting on Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change in Darwin, Australia.

Relevant themes for the meeting included:

• outlining the effects of climate change on indigenous peoples;
• adaptation measures to climate change;
• carbon projects and carbon trading; and
• factors that enable or obstruct indigenous peoples’ participation in the climate change processes.

Download meeting documents here.

Participation:

A total of 51 participants attended the meeting including United Nations Permanent Forum members, relevant United Nations agencies, intergovernmental agencies, national and local governments, indigenous peoples' organizations. non-government organizations and academics active within the field of climate change.

Objectives and Outcomes of the Meeting:

The Expert Group Meeting sought to:

• Promote an opportunity to exchange information on the effects of climate change;
• Draw attention to the impact of climate change on indigenous peoples, their livelihoods, cultural practices and lands and natural resources;
• Identify options and further plans to accommodate the many issues (ie migration) that indigenous peoples face as a result of climate change and identify possible solutions that maintain indigenous peoples’ identity and cultural integrity;
• Identify international institutions that may have an interest in working in partnership with indigenous peoples to address the issues in relation to adaptation, mitigation, monitoring and carbon emissions trading
• Highlight good practice models; and
• Identify gaps and challenges and a possible way forward.

The meeting was considered the most important preparatory meeting on climate change for the seventh session of the UNPFII (21 April – 2 May 2008). The final report of the Expert Group Meeting was submitted to the seventh session of the UNPFII. The meeting also formed an important preparatory meeting for the ninth meeting of the governing body of the Convention on Biological Diversity (19 - 30 May 2008).


Background:

Climate change is considered to be a critical global challenge and recent events have demonstrated the world’s growing vulnerability to climate change. The impacts of climate change range from affecting agriculture to further endangering food security, to rising sea-levels and the accelerated erosion of coastal zones, increasing intensity of natural disasters, species extinction and the spread of vector-borne diseases.

The myriad of issues and the effects that climate change have on indigenous peoples was one of the major reasons for the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues deciding that its 7th session (21 April – 2 May 2008) special theme will be “Climate change, bio-cultural diversity and livelihoods: the stewardship role of indigenous peoples and new challenges”. The Permanent Forum also recommended that United Nations organizations should provide technical assistance and convene, in cooperation with indigenous peoples’ organizations, regional workshops on the special theme and its various related issues. This workshop will contribute to the on-going discussions regarding indigenous peoples and climate change.

Despite the fact that changes are impacting intensely on indigenous peoples and their communities, they are very rarely considered in public discourses on climate change. Indigenous peoples are vital to, and active in, the many ecosystems that inhabit their lands and territories and therefore, are in a position to help enhance the resilience of these ecosystems. In addition, indigenous peoples interpret and react to climate change impacts in creative ways, drawing on traditional knowledge and other technologies to find solutions, which may help society at large to cope with impending changes.