Pricey COP28 Delegates,
We, Indigenous leaders and allies from numerous cultures, traditions, and areas throughout the globe, are united in calling for COP28 to be a platform to debate Indigenous Peoples’ rights within the context of the growing demand for minerals mined for vitality storage, electrified transportation batteries, and different inexperienced vitality applied sciences. In our name, we urge for governments and companies to respect, defend, and fulfill Indigenous Peoples’ rights, particularly the best to Free, Prior and Knowledgeable Consent (FPIC), because the minimal requirements enumerated within the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and the ILO Conference 169, to make sure equitable and accountable environmental and social practices on our lands.
We acknowledge and emphasize that it’s extra necessary than ever to transition to wash vitality and clear transportation options, and away from fossil fuels resembling oil, coal, and gasoline. Indigenous leaders have been calling for local weather motion all over the world for many years. We now have ancestral, cultural, and non secular ties to our lands that not solely require our participation in local weather advocacy but in addition name us to decide to the right stewardship practices of nature which are deeply rooted in our methods of life. Many Indigenous leaders are pursuing and championing clear vitality and transportation options on their territories that align with their self-determined wants and objectives. These Indigenous-led options should be acknowledged, recognised, promoted, and funded by States and personal entities.
Whereas we’re on the forefront of the struggle for local weather motion and clear vitality, our profound connection to our ancestral lands additionally places us on the frontlines to make sure that these lands is not going to be sacrifice zones for these corporations and politicians who search a fast repair within the identify of local weather options. Our dedication to a simply transition doesn’t overshadow our agency stance towards mining practices that happen with out acquiring FPIC of Indigenous Peoples and may result in displacement; migration; and livelihood, cultural, and language loss. We firmly assert that mining operations should adhere to accountable practices guided by the FPIC framework, which upholds the best to self-determination of Indigenous Peoples. We, Indigenous Peoples, maintain an inherent and inalienable proper to make choices about the way forward for our lands, territories, and sources.
The historic exploitation of our individuals and lands by oil, gasoline, and mining corporations showcases a legacy of placing income over our well-being, well being, security, cultures, traditions, and our sacred lands, waters, and air. With 54% of energy transition minerals globally located on or near our Indigenous Peoples’ lands, it’s crucial that our communities take part meaningfully in decision-making and are capable of train our proper to present or withhold consent to those tasks that can affect our lives, livelihoods, and cultures.
Ignoring our voices will solely perpetuate the fossil gas and mining business’s established order. As an alternative, if and when new mines are proposed on our ancestral lands, Indigenous Peoples have to be concerned from the beginning. Our subsistence, cultural practices, and priorities have to be on the heart of negotiations for proposed mines on our lands. We should be concerned in insurance policies and enhanced ranges of engagement and transparency at each step of the method. These have to be co-developed with our participation and in keeping with our management and governance buildings.
Probably the most protecting technique to obtain that is for governments and companies all over the world to make sure the best requirements of FPIC happen for each proposed minerals mining mission that impacts Indigenous Peoples. As articulated within the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was adopted by the United Nations in 2007 and endorsed by many nations all through the world, FPIC expresses consent-based protocols outlined by Indigenous leaders, secures decision-making authority and participatory rights in all choices that have an effect on Indigenous communities and territories, and helps perceive the complete impacts of tasks affecting Indigenous Peoples lands, subsistence, and cultural practices, and methods of life.
FPIC encompasses Indigenous Peoples’ proper to:
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Enter into conversations and negotiations with out coercion or manipulation.
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Have interaction in consultations and decision-making processes lengthy earlier than choices are made regarding their land, sources, people, and communities.
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Make the most of their very own conventional decision-making buildings/governance, making certain that these buildings are revered and built-in into the method.
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Have full info that’s simply accessible and available in a language they perceive.
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Say “sure” or “no” to a mission.
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To be concerned and heard all through a mission’s life cycle wherever it impacts individuals and sources.
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Retain the flexibility to withdraw consent at any stage of the mission or exercise if circumstances change or new info arises that impacts their consent.
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Obtain assist and sources crucial for efficient and significant participation in discussions and decision-making processes.
We is not going to again down from our position as leaders within the struggle for local weather motion and clear vitality. COP28 have to be the muse for governments all over the world to construct on this momentum and take the pressing steps wanted to safe Indigenous Peoples’ self-determination as mirrored in UNDRIP and as outlined by impacted Indigenous Peoples in order that the world can get this transition proper, take the required local weather motion, and keep away from making the errors of the previous which have put our individuals and methods of life in danger, and have pushed planetary boundaries to harmful limits. Within the spirit of this effort, we imagine it is a chance to outline a greater and extra inclusive world that serves all communities and all peoples – transcending the boundaries of concentrated political and financial energy. On this collective imaginative and prescient, we’re dedicated to defending our shared cultural heritage and practices that bind us collectively and to proceed being accountable stewards of the planet.
Thanks on your time and consideration.
Signed,
1. Securing Indigenous Peoples’ Rights within the Inexperienced Economic system (SIRGE) Coalition
2. Cultural Survival
3. First Peoples Worldwide
4. Batani Basis
5. Earthworks
6. Society for Threatened Peoples
