COP28 High-Level Champion Calls for Greater Inclusion and Partnerships with Indigenous Communities for Climate Action
New York, USA, April 18, 2023: Her Excellency Razan Al Mubarak, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for the COP28 Presidency and President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), urged for greater inclusion of indigenous peoples as “full partners in decision-making processes that affect their lands, health, resources and way of life” at the 22nd Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII).
During the keynote address at UNPFII, H.E. Ms. Al Mubarak said: “The Paris Agreement states that climate change is a common concern for all humankind and when taking action to address climate change, the rights of indigenous peoples should be respected, promoted and enacted.”
“It is imperative that we work together to ensure the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as we seek solutions to solve the climate crisis,” added H.E. Ms. Al Mubarak.
Pointing to reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Glasgow Climate Pact and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, H.E. Ms. Al Mubarak recognized the myriad of contributions by indigenous peoples to tackling the climate crisis from advocacy to environmental stewardship.
In addition, as High-Level Champion H.E. Ms. Al Mubarak leads the Race to Resilience, a UN-backed global campaign to catalyse a step-change in global ambition for climate resilience, putting people and nature first in pursuit of a resilient world where we don’t just survive climate shocks and stresses, but thrive in spite of them.
Today, Race to Resilience works across 139 countries, with an emphasis on resilience building for women and girls, indigenous and local communities. Projects range from restoring landscapes and livelihoods across Eastern and Southern Africa, to mangrove nurseries in the Caribbean, to the improvement of value chains and access to finances for sustainable agriculture. Race to Resilience promotes solutions that are community based and locally led.
In the lead up to the climate summit, the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion and the entire COP28 leadership team, including the COP28 President-Designate and Youth Climate Champion, are engaging with young people, women, indigenous groups, business leaders, civil society groups, and city and sub-state governments.
The scale of global climate change and its impacts on communities around the world, particularly across the Global South, cannot be addressed without whole-of-society solutions. All voices and actors are brought to the table at COP28 to accelerate equitable climate action.
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