ACROSS THE GLOBE, a rising number of Indigenous Peoples are taking governments to court, pressing them to act more decisively on climate change and a widening array of environmental threats. Legal experts describe these cases as an emerging front in the environmental movement, one that could inject momentum into political systems that, in many countries, have struggled to respond to accelerating ecological crises.
By the end of 2022, more than 2,100 lawsuits linked to climate change had been filed worldwide – more than twice the number recorded in 2017 – according to a recent assessment by the United Nations Environment Programme. While the report does not isolate cases brought specifically by Indigenous communities, it notes that litigation from those groups is also on the rise.
Many of the lawsuits are rooted in human rights law, with Indigenous Peoples arguing that environmental damage threatens their cultures, livelihoods, and access to essential resources such as food and water. More than 100 countries now recognize the right to a healthy environment, and an increasing number of Indigenous claimants are using that principle to demand governments honour commitments made under global agreements, including the Paris climate accord.
From Argentina and Australia to Ecuador, France, New Zealand and the United States, Indigenous groups have launched climate-related legal challenges, some of which have resulted in landmark rulings. In 2017, Colombia’s Constitutional Court blocked plans to divert a river for mining, finding that the project would violate the rights of the Wayúu people. The court noted that climate change had already reduced the river’s flow and that further interference would endanger local food supplies.
Still, the UNEP report concludes that Indigenous-led climate litigation has met with mixed results. One closely watched case in Ecuador in 2021, for instance, ended with a lower court rejecting efforts by Indigenous groups to halt gas flaring by a large petrochemical firm.
Often, such cases falter before substantive arguments are fully heard. Courts frequently dismiss claims on procedural grounds, including questions of legal standing, ruling that communities have not sufficiently demonstrated direct harm from climate change or environmental degradation.
Legal barriers are compounded by land tenure issues. In many countries, courts do not recognize land rights without formal documentation—records that many Indigenous communities do not possess—according to Beverly Longid of the International Indigenous People Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation.
“There is a need to overhaul the entire legal system as far as land is concerned,” says Longid, who is based in the Philippines. “That is not something states relinquish easily.”
Greater success has sometimes come through international mechanisms. In September 2022, the UN Human Rights Committee ruled that Australia had failed to adequately protect Indigenous communities in the Torres Strait Islands from climate impacts, violating their rights. Islanders had argued that rising sea levels threatened to displace them from their ancestral homes. It was the first time a UN body found a country in breach of human rights law due to insufficient climate action.
The decision followed a UN General Assembly resolution affirming the universal right to a clean, healthy environment. While non-binding, supporters believe it could encourage stronger national laws and provide Indigenous advocates with new leverage against environmentally harmful projects.
For Indigenous Peoples, the consequences of these legal struggles are profound. Closely tied to their lands, communities from the Arctic to southern Africa are often among the first to experience climate impacts. Flooding, drought, wildfires and the loss of wildlife add strain to populations already facing economic hardship, discrimination and political exclusion.
In many regions, there are growing fears that climate change – combined with pollution, unchecked mining, logging and oil extraction – could displace Indigenous communities entirely, eroding languages, traditions and ways of life.
Advocates argue that Indigenous victories in court are not only about climate accountability but about safeguarding ecosystems worldwide. Indigenous Peoples represent roughly five per cent of the global population, yet they traditionally steward more than a quarter of the planet’s land, encompassing the majority of its remaining biodiversity. Even so, many lack real control over those territories, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation.
Pursuing justice through the courts remains daunting. Some communities lack the resources or legal expertise needed for cases that can stretch on for years. Others face harassment, threats or worse. In 2021 alone, around 200 environmental defenders – many of them Indigenous – were killed worldwide, according to Global Witness.
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