At ICA, we believe that participation in international climate discourse, including within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) processes such as the Conference of the Parties (COP), is vital for our work and the communities we serve.

As the only Indigenous-led climate justice organization north of the medicine line we have a responsibility to stay involved, informed and active in international spaces where global colonial leaders are negotiating plans and actions for tackling the climate emergency that directly impact our lives, our rights and our culture.

These spaces have historically sidelined Indigenous peoples categorizing us as merely stakeholders with no more rights than other environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGO) despite decades of legal challenges and UN declarations that support otherwise. Over the last three decades Indigenous peoples have been advancing and advocating for some of the strongest climate policies and actions rooted in our rights, language, culture and identities. Over the last 5 years there has been progress to integrate Indigneous peoples and our knowledge into these processes but this process is still lagging while ‘false solutions' continue to be negotiated and sanctioned that have detrimental impacts on our communities and our lives.

Indigenous peoples have become globally recognized as critical actors in understanding and developing climate change solutions that can benefit the global community yet we are not empowered to be decision makers within these processes. It’s time we change this.  

ICA is attending this COP as part of our mission to support Indigenous Climate Leadership and create opportunities for other Indigenous peoples including youth. ICA’s delegation of over 15 Indigenous change makers will attend COP26 and learn about the UNFCCC process and civil society responses, critiques, and mobilizations. We are also supporting our delegation to share their unique experiences at the COP and with people back home to help increase the capacity of future Indigenous climate leaders. The ICA delegation will be adding to the ongoing work of the many Indigenous peoples who have participated in the COPs of the past to challenge false solutions narratives that uphold systems of colonial violence and advocate for the sovereignty and self determination of our communities to be key decision makers and leaders in these spaces and in our own communities. 

We will do this by participating both inside the negotiations space through participation with the Indigenous Peoples Caucus, events at the IP Pavilion, official Side Events, and participation as both party badge negotiators and observers in plenary sessions; and outside through participating in outside events and convergence spaces such as the People's Summit, Indigenous Minga and other opportunities for social movement collaborations, actions and mass mobilizations. 

At this year's COP we have identified four key issues we want at the center of our work and any interventions and actions made:

1. Challenging the false solutions included in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement Challenging the development of a global carbon market mechanism that include offsets of forests and conservation zones (ie. Nature based Solutions).

2. Ensuring Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) include Indigenous peoples and safeguards for the rights of Indigneous peoples, and don’t include false solutions and carbon markets - Current NDC’s rely heavily on offset and false solutions that further put the rights of Indigneous Peoples and our lands and territories at risk.

3. No Net Zero and no false solutions, we need real zero emissions  -  i.e. No Nature-Based Solutions, No Carbon Pricing and No Geo-engineering Technologies 

4. Keep Fossil Fuels in the Ground and respect the Rights and Sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples

So what’s happening at COP26? 

This COP is considered one of the most important COP’s in history because of the urgency and extent of the climate crisis. Earlier this year the IPCC released its sixth report  highlighting that we are running out of time to effectively address the climate crisis and we need aggressive and transformative action now.  The COP 26 has long been seen as one of the last chances to put the brakes on climate change and avert environmental catastrophe and ensure that we are on track in meeting the 1.5 degree target set out in the “historic” Paris Agreement. 

This COP will also take place during a global health crisis which has driven up the costs of travel, which is compounding challenges to attend the COP and making travel increasingly difficult or impossible for some regions of the world due to unequal access to vaccinations and resources to travel. This will allow for the COP spaces to be less accessible and increased limitations of who’s “allowed in the room” further marginalizing Indigneous peoples participation in negotiations and interventions.  This led to petitions and calls for the cancellation or postponement of the COP26 until these issues were resolved. However, theses calls to action were ignored and now Indigneous peoples, civil society, social movement organizations and individuals that are able to go have an increased responsibility to ensure issues of human and Indigenous rights are not buried under corporate and colonial government agendas of false solutions, greenwashing and appropriating of Indigenous values and solutions. 

Understanding what colonial governments and the COP Presidency’s (the host country) goals are for the COP is important for setting the stage of what to expect inside the negotiations. This year's COP includes issues that were not resolved, or agreed upon, at the COP25. COP26 will center around the different mechanisms that states can utilize to “reduce” emissions to “operationalize” the Paris Agreement. One of the primary articles that will be negotiated at this COP is Article 6 which feeds into other issues like accounting and accountability for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC’s), international carbon trading programs like the International Traded Mitigation Outcomes (ITMO), and a suite of false solutions that countries and corporations alike are driving forward to ensure that capitalism can continue business as usual.  In addition, over the last two years there is increasing pressure to co-opt Indigenous proposals to allow Mother Earth to guide climate solutions not capitalism, and redefine them through colonial terms and include these undefined “Nature Based Solutions” into carbon offset schemes that do little to nothing to actually decrease global carbon emissions. 

Current proposals for the COP26 include targets and ambitions that are reliant on carbon market mechanisms; lack any substance to address regulatory, financial and true reductions of emissions or stabilization of ecosystems; and are locked into capitalism and market based solutions. There are huge concerns for many Indigenous peoples and human rights organizations due to the fact that this global system would allow big polluters to continue to buy their way out of reducing emissions and ultimately continuing to develop fossil fuels and violate human, environmental and Indigenous rights. 

Our primary goal will be to share our journey with you all as we navigate Indigenous peoples climate movements, COP26 negotiations, and the impacts they may have on our communities, our rights and our lands and territories. Please join us and follow along on our website and social media channels as we attend COP26.