At COP 23, Parties initiated the operationalization of the local communities and indigenous peoples platform, and decided that the overall purpose of the platform will be:
- To strengthen the knowledge, technologies, practices and efforts of local communities and indigenous peoples related to addressing and responding to climate change,
- To facilitate the exchange of experience and the sharing of best practices and lessons learned on mitigation and adaptation in a holistic and integrated manner, and
- To enhance the engagement of local communities and indigenous peoples in the UNFCCC process;
Parties also decided that the platform will deliver the following three functions:
a) Knowledge: the platform should promote:
- the exchange of experience and best practices aiming at applying, strengthening, protecting and preserving traditional knowledge, knowledge of indigenous peoples, and local knowledge systems, as well as
- technologies, practices and efforts of local communities and indigenous peoples related to addressing and responding to climate change,
taking into account the free, prior and informed consent of the holders of such knowledge, innovations and practices;
(b) Capacity for engagement: the platform should build the capacities of:
- indigenous peoples and local communities to enable their engagement in the UNFCCC process;
- Parties and other relevant stakeholders to engage with the platform and with local communities and indigenous peoples, including in the context of the implementation of the Paris Agreement and other climate change related processes;
(c) Climate change policies and actions: the platform should facilitate:
- the integration of diverse knowledge systems, practices and innovations in designing and implementing international and national actions, programmes and policies in a manner that respects and promotes the rights and interests of local communities and indigenous peoples;
- stronger and more ambitious climate action by indigenous peoples and local communities that could contribute to the achievement of the nationally determined contributions of the Parties concerned;
As the platform gets further operationalized, Parties recommended that the interests and views of local communities and indigenous peoples, as well as the principles proposed by indigenous peoples organizations be taken into account. The principles proposed were:
- full and effective participation of indigenous peoples;
- equal status of indigenous peoples and Parties, including in leadership roles;
- self-selection of indigenous peoples representatives in accordance with indigenous peoples’ own procedures; and
- adequate funding from the secretariat and voluntary contributions to enable the implementation of the functions of the platform;
Upcoming activities in 2018
The first activity of the platform will be a multi-stakeholder workshop on implementing the three functions of the platform. The workshop will be co-designed and co-moderated by the Chair of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and a representative of local communities and indigenous peoples organizations.
Next steps in the operationalization of the platform will be considered at SBSTA 48 in April–May 2018, with a view to forwarding recommendations to the twenty-fourth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 24) in December 2018.
At SBSTA 48, Parties will consider:
- the establishment of a facilitative working group, which would not be a negotiating body under the Convention, with balanced representation of local communities and indigenous peoples and Parties, and
- the modalities for the development of a workplan for the full implementation of the three functions.
Further detail, particularly on the background to the platform is available here.
Indigenous people discuss their unique knowledge and capacity to contribute to global climate processes in these two videos: video 1 and video 2.