Indigenous people comprise just 5% of the world’s population, but they steward some 80% of the world’s biodiversity. That’s not an accident. Though diverse in language, ethnicity and cultures, many indigenous groups have developed ways to live sustainably on their ancestral lands and waters over centuries or even millennia. Their worldviews often put the protection of vital resources – nature’s supermarket – above the profit motive, stemming from long-held cultural practices.
This has put many indigenous communities into direct, if unwanted, conflict with the forces of global capitalism. The results are devastating:
Indigenous communities are being displaced from their lands at alarming rates, and environmental defenders – many of them indigenous – face rising levels of violence.
Our Work to Supporting Indigenous Peoples
Indigenous people’s rights are central to our work. At a time when biodiversity is in free fall and climate change-induced extinctions loom, restoring indigenous land and water rights is our best hope for restoring balance.
We work with indigenous groups in Latin America, Southern Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, amplifying their voices and supporting their movements. We promote the right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) and indigenous rights over their lands, territories and cultural autonomy. We support and promote consultation protocols as a means through which indigenous communities can uphold their rights. And we strengthen indigenous communities’ capacity to recognize and advocate for their rights, working alongside indigenous-led organizations and movements to elevate and disseminate their narratives.
Learn More
- Amazon’s Belo Monte dam cuts Xingu River flow 85%; a crime, Indigenous say (Mongabay, 2021)
- Whose Water? A Comparative Analysis of National Laws and Regulations Recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ and Local Communities’ Rights to Freshwater (2020)
- Serious Damage Tribal Peoples and Large Dams (Survival International, 2010)
Latest News
- Biocultural Community Protocols, a powerful tool to affirm and protect Indigenous Peoples’ rights
by Sherelee Odayar, Senior Programme Officer, Standing with Communities, Natural Justice The Process of developing the Biocultural Community Protocol of the OvaHerero of the Kaokoland in Namibia and Angola For … Read more - PRESS RELEASE | Klamath River Runs Free for First Time in a Century as Largest Dam Removal in US History Nears Completion
Tribal and conservation advocates celebrate as river is returned to historic channel; restoration activities to continue for several more years FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 28, 2024 CONTACT Ren Brownell, ren@klamathrenewal.org, KRRC PIO, 530-598-8255Craig … Read more - PRESS RELEASE | Biocultural Community Protocol (BCP) of the OvaHerero of the Kaokoland in Angola and Namibia (the Ovahimba) gives recognition to Indigenous Peoples
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – June 12, 2024 Karipetua Uarije, representative of the OvaHerero Biocultural Community Protocol Custodian Committee, kuarije@yahoo.com Natasha Prince, Natural Justice, natasha@naturaljustice.org Siziwe Mota, International Rivers, smota@internationalrivers.org Opuwo, Namibia – … Read more - Civil Society Organizations continue to call for more effective consultation processes from the Inter-American Development Bank
Yesterday, International Rivers joined organizations from Latin America and the United States with a new open letter to the president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Ilan Goldfajn. The letter … Read more