Enhancing Indigenous Peoples’ participation in climate policy processes
-
From
CGIAR Initiative on Climate Resilience
-
Published on
02.04.24
- Impact Area

In a new opinion piece, just published earlier on PLOS Climate, ClimBeR researchers highlight key challenges and evidence gaps across sectors and disciplines ahead of COP29, with a focus on climate justice and the application of a social equity lens to enhance Indigenous Peoples’ participation in climate policy processes.
Globally, Indigenous Peoples have been portrayed as highly vulnerable to climate change while at the same time possessing the skills and knowledge that are critical to the climate response. To date, Indigenous Peoples continue to be the poorest of the poor. Ending poverty in all its forms requires fair and inclusive sustainable development processes and practices.
Indigenous Peoples’ participation in environmental governance is one of several key pathways through which they actively engage with nature. While their contributions have often been underrepresented in international climate negotiations processes and fora, in recent years, this has begun to change.
Enhancing Indigenous Peoples’ participation in climate policy processes partly rests on the premise of climate justice, tackling the root causes of complex inequalities and making political choices about the redistribution of benefits.
Climate justice, therefore, must ensure Indigenous Peoples’ right to full and effective participation in policy processes. This requires a more explicit focus on and context-specific understanding of social equity which allows for greater participation of the most vulnerable, even within Indigenous communities.
A more explicit focus on social equity and context specificity contributes to ensuring that Indigenous Peoples have a political voice and can fully participate in identifying and realizing climate-resilient transformation pathways.
Read the complete opinion piece here to learn more about what the authors have to say about what needs to be done to ensure that Indigenous Peoples completely and meaningfully engage in climate policy processes for more equitable and inclusive outcomes.
Related resources:
Blog: ClimBeR at COP28: Ensuring that local voices matter
Blog: #Weareindigenous: working towards a seat at the table, not just on the sidelines
Voices of Change video series: https://www.youtube.com/@cemiride/playlists
Blog: Voices of Change: Community stories of climate adaptation in Baringo, Kenya – CGIAR
Blog: Local knowledge for global decision-making
Feature image and photo credit: Perspectives captured from Indigenous communities in the Baringo for the Voices of Change series/ClimBeR
Related news
-
Integrating Climate Security into the Future of UN Peacekeeping in Africa
Ibukun Taiwo30.06.25-
Climate adaptation & mitigation
Explicit mentions of climate security have been removed or weakened in recent UN mandates. For…
Read more -
-
Harnessing digital tools in securing soil health for Africa’s food future
Sehlule Muzata27.06.25-
Climate adaptation & mitigation
-
Environmental health
-
Nutrition, health & food security
-
Poverty reduction, livelihoods & jobs
Nairobi, 27 June 2025 (IITA) - As it marks its first anniversary, the Regional Hub…
Read more -
-
Driving Rwanda’s Agricultural Sector Climate Resilience Through Innovative Business
The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)27.06.25-
Climate adaptation & mitigation
Rwanda’s agriculture is integral to its economy, and its reliance on rain-fed farming systems make…
Read more -