However, the recent UNEP report notes that, overall, indigenous peoples’ climate litigation has had “little success.” The Wet’suwet’en people’s case was initially dismissed before community members filed an appeal (currently underway). Similarly, in a closely watched 2021 case in Ecuador, a lower court ruled against indigenous groups seeking to prevent gas flaring by a major petrochemical company.

Indigenous peoples often have their cases rejected for technical reasons before the merits of their arguments have been presented. According to UNEP’s Patricia Kameri-Mbote, courts often reject claims based on the legal concept of standing, arguing that indigenous communities have not demonstrated that they have been affected by climate change and other environmental threats. .

Likewise, indigenous peoples often have difficulty in court because in many countries the legislative system does not recognize property rights to land without title deeds, something many indigenous groups lack, says Beverly Longid , coordinator of the International Movement of Indigenous Peoples for Autonomy. Determination and liberation.

“There is a need to review the entire legislative system regarding land, something the state is not about to give up easily,” said Beverly Longid, who lives in the Philippines.

International call

Indigenous peoples have achieved greater legal success before United Nations agencies. In September 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Committee declared that Australia was violating the rights of the indigenous peoples of the Low Torres Strait Islands by not doing enough about climate change. A group of island residents had denounced that rising sea levels, a consequence of the climate crisis, could force them from their homes. It was the first time that a United Nations body had declared that a state had violated international human rights law due to inadequate climate policy.

The decision came shortly after the United Nations General Assembly declared that everyone on the planet has the right to a healthy environment. The resolution is not legally binding. However, its supporters believe it can spur countries to strengthen their environmental laws and regulations, giving indigenous peoples’ advocates more tools to confront environmentally harmful policies and projects.

For many Indigenous peoples, the stakes of these legal confrontations could not be higher. Because of their close ties to the land, indigenous communities, since the From the Arctic to the Kalahari Desert, were among the first to feel the effects of climate change. Floods, droughts, wildfires and wildlife loss have become an additional burden for communities already struggling with unemployment, discrimination and political marginalization.

In many places, there are fears that climate change, combined with other threats such as pollution and unregulated mining, logging and oil exploitation, will force indigenous people to abandon their lands and wipe out their culture. In the Wet’suwet’en trial, lawyers argue that the Wet’suwet’en “cannot be what they are elsewhere.”

“Guardians” of the earth

In addition to fighting climate change, indigenous rights advocates say their court victories are crucial to protecting frayed web of life In the ground. Indigenous peoples represent 5% of the world’s population, but traditionally own or manage more than 25% of the planet’s land. These territories are home to 80% of plants, animals and other living beings, and nature is rapidly deteriorating. slower than elsewhere. However, despite these rights, many groups They do not have control of their landwhich are subject to logging, mining, poaching and other environmental threats.

“Indigenous peoples have centuries, if not millennia, of experience as land managers,” said Patricia Kameri-Mbote of UNEP. “They have played a vital role in protecting biodiversity and their knowledge of the environment can play a vital role in global action to adapt to climate change.”