Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities: shared challenges and lessons on the front lines of climate resistance

The proposal is to bring together—in a single space—Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities leaders from Asia, Africa, and Latin America for a direct dialogue on the shared challenges of defending their territories and on concrete ecosystem protection and restoration initiatives already underway. The event is aimed primarily at funders and decision-makers who have yet to be convinced of the importance of supporting a permanent platform for political coordination and advocacy that cuts across the three Rio Conventions (climate, biodiversity, and desertification). We aim to build this panel around the common ground shared by these diverse experiences—territorial defense and solutions that are already working in practice—rather than focusing on the differences in institutional design among existing governance bodies (such as the UNFCCC’s FWG/LCIPP, the CBD’s SB8j, and the UNCCD’s CSO Panel).