Meeting Report | Partnering with Indigenous Communities: Session 4 of the Brazil-US Dialogue on Sustainability and Climate Change
Over the course of the fourth meeting of the Brazil-US Dialogue on Sustainability and Climate Change, three major policy recommendations emerged to better support and catalyze the active participation of Indigenous peoples as partners in the fight against climate change, which is as essential as it is often overlooked.
REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS
1. The right of Indigenous peoples to self-determination—particularly in terms of support for their own decision-making—must be truly imbedded in policy discussions and financing instruments for sustainability.
A critical piece in this equation is the mutual development of robust governance structures that meet the joint needs of Indigenous communities and international funders instead of merely the latter.
2. Funders and international organizations need to ensure that financing for sustainable development is going to Indigenous organizations and Indigenous-led projects.
This will require addressing fairly profound issues of access, which have typically plagued past sustainability investments in the Brazilian Amazon, including with successful past programs like the Amazon Fund.
3. The international community also has an important role to play in helping to address non-financial barriers to greater Indigenous participation in sustainability and climate deliberations.
By more forcefully advocating for Indigenous inclusion in spaces of power—whether those spaces are multilateral climate negotiations or a funder’s crafting of sustainability program requirements in the region.
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