In my quieter moments, often while leafing through the latest research and reports, I ponder the gradual degradation of our natural world. Human interaction, mainly through industrial and technological advancements, has left indelible marks on the Earth, and climate change remains a critical concern. This has led me to wonder about the state of the world for the next seven generations. If we consider a generation to span 25 years, this places the seventh generation in the year 2199. But what if we viewed generational shifts as cyclical, akin to the Earth’s revolutions around the sun ..read more

All too often, gender-responsive policy is considered separately from budgeting, and from decision making about climate change. By bringing together gender equity and budgeting policies in the context of addressing climate change, there is the opportunity to address the adverse impacts of climate change on women and gender-diverse people worldwide, and to enhance the efforts to develop more impactful climate change strategies. Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) is “a strategy that promotes the goal of gender equity by allocating specific budgets for gender mainstreaming.” A concept first introd ..read more

The theme for the United Nation’s International Women’s Day 2024 (IWD 2024) is “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress”; however, any promotion of gender equality in the green economy should be done in the global context of climate justice and recognize the intersectionality of women. Climate justice is the topic of recent UN reports that also centre on the intersectionality of Indigenous women in addressing economic vulnerability. For example, the 2022 policy brief “Climate Justice for Indigenous Women: Urgency and Way Forward” notes how “[i]ntersectionality and climate change cumulatively esca ..read more

Mining in the deep seas and climate change effects have negative impacts on Earth’s capacity to capture and store carbon. As stewards of the land and water, Indigenous communities want the United Nations (UN) to ban deep-sea mining worldwide and to recognize Indigenous sovereignty of the oceans. Mining companies continue to conduct their own environmental impact studies, and argue that extracting base metals found in polymetallic nodules, some millions of years old, from the deep sea, will save the planet, facilitate a greener economy, and address climate change. Discussions about the so-calle ..read more

Locally Led Adaptation (LLA) refers to community-led initiatives that are intended to guide people toward climate adaptation practices that are owned locally by community members and other partners. According to the Global Commission on Adaptation, there are eight principles to guide locally led adaptation: “Devolving decision making to the lowest appropriate level” to facilitate direct engagement in determining the trajectory of local adaptation efforts. “Addressing structural inequalities faced by women, youth, children, Indigenous peoples and all those who are marginalized by society.” “Pr ..read more

Municipal governments play a crucial role in land use planning and management in climate change, as noted in the Milestone document of Canada’s 2023 National Biodiversity Strategy, which, as a draft document, is currently open for public comment until February 9, 2024. To facilitate “[e]nsuring a whole-of-government approach to create policy coherence across environmental, economic, and social mandates”, as called for in the Milestone document, it is worth asking how can municipal governments facilitate equitable approaches to climate change adaptation? Both the USDN Guide to Equitable Communi ..read more

Many countries are not on track to meet their committed targets to keep the global temperature rise to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030, as per the Paris Agreement. The Climate Change Performance Index 2024 (CCPI 2024) supplies data that ranks how sixty-three countries and the European Union – countries that “together account for over 90% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions –  are faring in their efforts to develop and implement mitigation solutions to climate change.” The CCPI 2024 covers fourteen indicators of  “climate protection performance” in four categories: Greenho ..read more

COP28: What is a Just Energy Transition for Indigenous Peoples? Climate change is decimating Indigenous ecosystems and there are differing interpretations of what a just transition to green energy from fossil fuels looks like. For industry, a just transition means protecting the jobs of oil and gas workers as the economy shifts away from a dependency on oil and gas toward a decarbonized world. Whereas for Indigenous Peoples and allied climate advocates, seeking a global shift to green energy means asserting the importance of justice and fairness; this requires holding rich and industrialized n ..read more

COP28, the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference, takes place in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from November 30 to December 12, 2023. Given the thematic organization of the conference, Indigenous Peoples are highlighted on the sixth day of the conference. Meanwhile, Indigenous advocates are working to place Indigenous rights and self-determination at the forefront of all discussions. The first two days of COP28, following the launch day, are devoted to the World Climate Action Summit, where a Global Stocktake response will be presented, as mandated by the Paris Agreement, and accountabilit ..read more

Climate justice and social justice are inextricably linked. Climate justice recognizes how climate change has impacts on communities already made vulnerable by social, economic, health and other impacts, and who have contributed the least to climate change. In turn, climate change worsens existing social injustices. The connections between climate justice and social justice are drawn more clearly by those working on gender-based and youth-based climate justice initiatives and through projects that also shed light on the impacts of climate change on low-income countries. Climate justice advocat ..read more