International Expert Group Meeting on Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change
UNPFII, UNU-IAS, NAILSMA
2 April 2008 – 4 April 2008 (Darwin, Australia)

From 2 – 4 April 2008, the United Nations University – Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) in conjunction with the Secretariat of United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) and the North Australia Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA), convened an International Expert Group Meeting on Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change in Darwin, Australia.

Relevant themes for the meeting included:

  • Outlining the effects of climate change on indigenous peoples;
  • Adaptation measures to climate change;
  • Carbon projects and carbon trading; and
  • Factors that enable or obstruct indigenous peoples’ participation in the climate change processes.

Discussions under several items made reference to the value of traditional knowledge, including: ways that indigenous peoples could be involved in programs that support community level mitigation and adaptation measures and at the same time recognize the value of traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples that has enabled them to maintain and interact with their environment in a sustainable way; the collective rights of indigenous peoples to their traditional knowledge; and that climate change and climate change response activities may result in an increased respect for and valuing of traditional knowledge.

The Expert Meeting made several recommendations relevant to TK (to be considered at the Seventh Session of the UNPFII), including:

  • that States and other organisations incorporate into education systems traditional knowledge and impacts of climate change on indigenous peoples (Recommendation #8);
  • that States acknowledge the role and value of learning from indigenous knowledge about climate and weather, as recognised in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (2007) (Recommendation #10);
  • that the UNPFII welcome the initiative of UNU-IAS in establishing a centre devoted to Traditional Knowledge and urge the Australian Government to support this initiative (Recommendation #12);
  • noting the report of the International Expert Meeting on Responses to Climate Change for Indigenous and Local Communities and Their Impact on Their Traditional Knowledge Related to Biological Diversity – the Arctic region, facilitated under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity, in Helsinki, 25-28 March 2008, as a useful contribution with broad ranging implications, to discussions concerning indigenous peoples and climate change and that the report be broadly distributed and made available to the 7th session of the UNPFII for its full consideration (Recommendation #13); and
  • that UNPFII urge indigenous academics, scientists and traditional knowledge holders to come together to consolidate their knowledge and experiences in climate change science and bring the results of their processes to the attention of the UNPFII, the IPCC and UNFCCC (Recommendation 15g);

Visit the Expert Group meeting page…
Download the meeting documents…
Download the report… [Word document]
Visit the UNPFII-7 meeting page…