UNITED NATIONS: Although indigenous peoples make up just 6 per cent of the world’s population, they protect 80 per cent of the planet’s remaining biodiversity, and yet receive less than 1 per cent of international climate finance. This imbalance has been highlighted in “The State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples” released by the United Nations (UN) earlier this year. The report provides a detailed assessment of climate action, showing that it often lacks both urgency and fairness.
From green energy projects imposed without consent to policy decisions made in spaces where Indigenous voices are absent, these communities are frequently excluded from climate solutions, displaced by them, and denied the resources to lead initiatives. The report calls for a fundamental shift in the recognition of Indigenous knowledge – reframing it not as “traditional” or folkloric, but as scientific, technical, and method-driven. Indigenous knowledge systems are based on direct relationships with ecosystems that have sustained life for millennia.
For instance, in Peru, a Quechua community in Ayacucho has revived water sowing and harvesting practices to adapt to shrinking glaciers and drought. These ancestral methods of managing hydrological cycles are now shared with Costa Rican farmers as an example of South-South climate cooperation.
In Somalia, oral traditions serve as ecological law. Cultural norms, such as prohibitions on cutting certain trees demonstrate environmental governance embedded in generational wisdom, passed down through proverbs stories, and taboos instead of formal policy.
Similarly, the Comcaac people of Mexico encode ecological and maritime knowledge in their language, with place names like Moosni Oofia (where green turtles gather) and Tosni Iti Ihiiquet (where pelicans hatch) serving as living data points vital to their survival. The report also highlights how, despite the shift toward renewable energy, many Indigenous communities face threats rather than partnerships, as green solutions such as biofuel expansion, carbon offset schemes, and mineral extraction often replicate patterns of displacement and exclusion.
In Africa, for example, the rising demand for lithium and cobalt linked to clean energy has fueled extractive activities without free, prior, and informed consent, leading to environmental degradation and forced relocation. Across the Americas, carbon offset projects tied to forest conservation have been implemented on Indigenous lands without consultation, resulting in environmental harm and exclusion from financial benefits. The report stresses that climate actions designed and executed without Indigenous Peoples at the center risk perpetuating the same extractive and exclusionary systems that have contributed to the crisis.
A chapter commissioned by WHO examines how climate-related health impacts intersect with social, cultural, and spiritual aspects of Indigenous communities.
In the Arctic, shifts in temperature, wildlife migration, and weather patterns disrupt traditional hunting and harvesting practices, threatening food security and creating stress. Indigenous women are particularly affected, facing higher vulnerability to neglected tropical diseases such as schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, and soil-transmitted helminthiases in East Africa.
In the Amazon, climate-induced biodiversity loss has reduced access to traditional foods and medicinal plants, leading to nutritional deficiencies among pregnant and nursing women and broader community health risks. Despite these challenges, communities demonstrate resilience through locally rooted adaptation strategies, often led by women and elders, including restoring traditional diets, strengthening intergenerational knowledge sharing, and adjusting harvesting calendars to new ecological rhythms. While Indigenous Peoples are increasingly recognized in global environmental frameworks, their role in shaping and implementing climate policy remains severely limited, both in terms of governance and funding. Structural barriers prevent Indigenous communities from accessing international climate finance, with less than 1 per cent of resources reaching them directly.
The report calls for transformative change, including the creation of Indigenous-led financial mechanisms, formal recognition of Indigenous governance systems, and protection of data sovereignty, ensuring communities control how knowledge about their lands and livelihoods is collected and used. Without these measures, climate action risks reproducing the exclusion and dispossession that have historically undermined both Indigenous rights and global environmental objectives.
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