Nearly 100 Indigenous leaders from the seven socio-cultural regions of the world have reached unanimous agreement on defining a Just Transition with respect to impacted or potentially impacted Indigenous Peoples.<\/p>\n
Indigenous Peoples Principles and Protocols for Just Transition<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, the culminating document from the JUST TRANSITION: Indigenous Peoples\u2019 Perspectives, Knowledge, and Lived Experiences Summit<\/strong>, which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, October 8-10, defines what the transition to \u201cclean\u201d or \u201cgreen\u201d energy and development must do to respect the rights and protect the wellbeing of Indigenous Peoples. The document provides 11 principles that corporate and state actors must adhere to when designing and implementing projects in the name of just, sustainable, or \u201cgreen\u201d initiatives.<\/p>\n \u201cActivities that are being proposed or carried out on our lands, ice, waters, and territories in the name of just transition, green economy, green\/clean energy, or emissions reduction, without the obtainment of our free, prior and informed consent or which threaten our sacred places, cultural practices, Indigenous Peoples\u2019 food sources, and ecosystems, or otherwise violate our inherent rights, are not a just transition,\u201d states the document.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo years ago, we began convening Indigenous leaders from around the world to address the increasing violence, harm, and negative impacts that the so-called \u2018green\u2019 or \u2018clean\u2019 energy transition is perpetuating on our lands and to our communities \u2013\u00a0the same impacts Indigenous Peoples experience from fossil fuel extractive practices,\u201d said Rodion Sulyandziga<\/strong>, who chaired the Summit coordinating committee. \u201cThe culmination was our Indigenous Just Transition Summit and this outcomes document, which provides unanimous agreement about the definitions, principles, and protocols that must be foundational for Just Transition. These are the first steps for anyone \u2013 be it corporate, State, or Indigenous-led enterprise \u2013 to build a truly just, sustainable, and inclusive economy for all people of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n The 11 principles for a Just Transition established during the Summit are:<\/p>\n 1. Right to Life<\/strong> – Encompassing Indigenous Peoples\u2019 physical and spiritual integrity and \u201cguaranteeing their present and future existence.\u201d<\/p>\n 2. Right to Self-determination and Sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples<\/strong> – The \u201crecognition, respect, and full implementation of the inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples\u201d as affirmed by minimum standards of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and other international instruments. This includes Indigenous Peoples\u2019 right to freely determine their own political, social, economic development and future, and rights to equitable benefit-sharing.<\/p>\n 3. Decolonization<\/strong> – Rejection of the Doctrine of Discovery and continuing impacts from \u201ccolonial and extractive resource exploitation, false solutions, military occupation, and activities that threaten our mental, spiritual, reproductive, intergenerational, and physical health, biodiversity, natural ecosystems, cultures, values, and plant and animal relatives.\u201d<\/p>\n 4. Reparations, Land Back, and Full Restoration of Lands<\/strong> – Ensuring \u201cthe return, recognition, and respect of Indigenous lands, territories, and waters, as well as the protection of all Indigenous natural resources, ecosystems, and other means of livelihood,\u201d which \u201cmust begin with the unrestricted access, restoration, recognition, and respect of our rights to our ancestral lands, territories, and waters, and other resources that were taken without our consent\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n 5. Respect for Indigenous Peoples’ Ways of Life<\/strong> – Guaranteeing food sovereignty, Indigenous economies, Indigenous science, technologies, and innovations, lived experiences, jurisdiction, languages, cultures, spirituality, responsibilities to the natural world, biodiversity, knowledge systems,\u201d as well as respect for Indigenous Peoples\u2019 knowledge, beliefs, and ancestral practices to protect our ecosystems and food systems, and uphold our sacred responsibilities to our Peoples, families and future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n 6. Transparency and Accountability<\/strong> – \u201cInclude and reflect the input and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples\u2026 [with] opportunity for active and effective negotiations, based on free, prior and informed consent regarding all projects, from the design to implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, on and affecting Indigenous Peoples\u2019 lands, territories, resources, and waters.<\/p>\n 7. Historical Reparations<\/strong> – Guarantee economic and non-economic reparations for the historical and continuing damages through \u201cstandards established by human rights courts and bodies, and as determined by the pre-existing Indigenous nations and peoples when demanding such reparations.\u201d<\/p>\n 8. Full Protection of Indigenous People<\/strong>s – Accounting for and eliminating \u201cthe criminalization of Indigenous Peoples\u2019 human rights and environmental defenders, and cultural practitioners, including but not limited to extrajudicial killings, torture, imprisonments, surveillance, and other threats of harassment, intimidation, and reprisals with impunity, including the policing and militarization of Indigenous Peoples\u2019 territories.<\/p>\n 9. Recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Roles and Responsibilities<\/strong> – Recognizing Indigenous Peoples\u2019 roles \u201cas caretakers, stewards, and guardians of our traditional lands, rangelands, forests, deserts, savannas, waters, air, ice, territories, and resources, our Indigenous laws and protocols, and the spiritual, cultural, historic and ongoing relationships we have with the plants, animals, elements, lands, ice, and waters which give us life and identity.\u201d<\/p>\n 10. Maintaining 1.5 Degrees<\/strong> – Providing \u201cdirect access to financing for Indigenous Peoples\u2019 own projects for climate change aversion and mitigation, adaptation, resilience, and direct access payments for loss and damage\u201d within the global mandate to limit rising temperatures to 1.5 degrees celsius in order to reduce and prevent climate change.<\/p>\n 11. A Rights-based Approach to Supply Chains<\/strong> – Ensuring supply chains for just transition projects do \u201cnot cause harm to Indigenous Peoples, other peoples, ecosystems, or sacred sites\u201d by \u201cassessing the impacts of the totality of supply chains (from raw materials to end-use projects to waste).\u201d Supply chains must avoid a \u201ctrade off benefits to one peoples to the detriment of another peoples\u2019 lands, territories, and resources,\u201d and \u201cState and private actors must also ensure full transparency\u201d regarding funding and investment sources.\u201d<\/p>\n To implement these principles, Indigenous leaders at the Summit have committed to initiating processes for their Peoples to safeguard what they \u201cdetermine to be critical for their survival and well-being that is rooted in their worldviews and values,\u201d and \u201cdisseminate, promote, and defend these principles and protocols\u201d, as well as \u201cuse them in their education, trainings, and advocacy efforts.\u201d They will also continue to \u201cengage and challenge regulations, standards, laws, policies, and actions that ignore their Free, Prior, and Informed Consent\u201d, stand in solidarity with one another to oppose the imposition of \u201cgreen energy\u201d projects impacting their lands, call for \u201cimplementation of an ecosystem approach,\u201d and \u201cdemand that Indigenous, human, environmental, and lands rights defenders be protected.\u201d<\/p>\n Additionally, they have committed to considering \u201cutilizing international human rights bodies and national, international and regional mechanisms to submit urgent complaints to stop states’ actions and rights\u2019 violations\u201d and refusing to tolerate any forced evictions, displacements, relocations, dispossession, and expulsion, in the name of “green transition” projects.<\/p>\n Towards implementation, they call for \u201ccomprehensive mapping and due diligence procedures for transition minerals development and for social, environmental, and human rights impacts,\u201d as well as the demand for \u201ccompanies, governments, financial mechanisms, private sector, all responsible parties, to take full responsibility and action for damage, loss of cultural heritage, and other adverse impacts of mining activities to human, biodiversity, ancestral lands, cultural, and spiritual practices, territories and waters.\u201d<\/p>\n Sulyandziga further discussed the role of Indigenous Peoples in the Just Transition: \u201cFor too long, Indigenous voices have been marginalized. From the Amazon to the Arctic, the protection of our environment has always been intertwined with the protection of our people. We are the stewards of the world\u2019s most vital ecosystems, from rainforests to grasslands, and we are the first to suffer when these ecosystems are threatened. The world must understand that there can be no climate justice without Indigenous justice. There can be no green transition without the full participation of Indigenous peoples. Protecting the Earth means protecting the people who have always protected it. This is our responsibility, and it is also our right. Without Indigenous knowledge, the quest for a green future is a journey without a map. And without Indigenous voices, even the greenest economy will run dry.”<\/p>\n Read Indigenous Peoples Principles and Protocols for Just Transition<\/em> in English<\/a>, En espa\u00f1ol<\/a>, En fran\u00e7ais<\/a>, Em portugu\u00eas<\/a>, \u041d\u0430 \u0440\u0443\u0441\u0441\u043a\u043e\u043c \u044f\u0437\u044b\u043a\u0435<\/a>.<\/p>\n About the Indigenous Peoples Just Transition Summit<\/strong><\/p>\n The JUST TRANSITION: Indigenous Peoples\u2019 Perspectives, Knowledge, and Lived Experiences Summit<\/strong><\/a> brought Indigenous Peoples together to collectively define a Just Transition and the green economy from Indigenous perspectives. Calling for a rights-based approach rooted in self-determination; Free, Prior, and Informed Consent; cultural, land, and territorial rights; and the participation of Indigenous Peoples in decision-making, the summit presented Indigenous leaders with the opportunity to shape the future where their priorities and solutions are central to building a just and sustainable transition.\u00a0 (Watch the Press Conference<\/a> held on the concluding day of the Summit.)<\/p>\n The Summit was hosted in Geneva Switzerland, October 8-10, by the Indigenous Peoples Global Coordinating Committee (IPGCC)<\/strong>, members of which include Securing Indigenous Peoples\u2019 Rights in the Green Economy (SIRGE) Coalition, International Indian Treaty Council (IITC); Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP); Saami Council; Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC); PINGO\u2019s Forum; He Kainga Indigenous Solutions, Aotearoa; Coordinadora de las Organizaciones Ind\u00edgenas de la Cuenca Amaz\u00f3nica (COICA); Association Des Femmes Peules & Peuples Autochtones Du Tchad (AFPAT); Nyungar Nation; United Confederation of Taino People (UCTP); and Center for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North (CSIPN).<\/p>\n Other participating organizations and partners include: Acal El Hejeb \/ Indigenous Amazigh Network AZUL – Morocco; Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN); Association Repare Promotion de l’\u00e9ducation et Acc\u00e8s aux Soins des Filles et Femmes – Burkina Faso; Association TUNFA – Niger; Batani Foundation; Beaver Lake Cree Nation; Camp Morningstar; Central Unica Nacional de las Rondas Campesinas del Per\u00fa CUNARC-PER\u00da; Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones Comunidad de Historia Mapuche; Centro de Investigacion de Tecnolog\u00edas Aplicadas al Qullasuyu (CITAQ); Comunidad de Historia Mapuche Lof Boroa, Ecuador Runacanapac Tandanacui; Comunidad Ind\u00edgena Colla Comuna de Copiap\u00f3; Consejo General Kuna de Panama; Cultural Survival; DOCIP; Earthworks; Family Support Centre – Botswana; ICCA Southeast Asia; International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA); Kanawayandan Daaki <\/em>\u2013 Land, Air, Water, Spirit; Laguna Acoma Coalition for a Safe Environment; Lmartin People Association – Kenya; Marka Tahua Aranzaya Maranzaya Yonza; MBOSCUDA – Cameroon; National Indigenous Disabled Women Association-Nepal (NIDWAN); NDN Collective; Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN); Observatorio de Derechos de los Pueblos Ind\u00edgenas-UMSA; Parlamento de Naciones, Pueblos y Comunidades Ind\u00edgenas de Jujuy; Pgayenkaw Association for Sustainable Development (PASD); PIDP – Shirika la Bambuti – DRC; Pit River Nation; Promotion of Indigenous and Nature Together (POINT); Saami Parliament, Norway; Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (SADIA); Society for Threatened Peoples; Tobpinai Ningkokoton Koburuon Kampu (TONIBUNG); Ton-kla Indigenous Children and Youth Network; Tonkla Indigenous Children and Youth Network (TKN); Tooh\u2019 Din\u00e9 Bi Keyah; Torang Trust; Tsehay Golgota Community Development Organization – Ethiopia; Unissons nous pour la promotion des Batwa (UNIPROBA) – Burundi; Yaqui Nation Traditional Authorities, Vicam Pueblo; and Youth Council in Saami Parliament, Norway.<\/p>\n