Assessing Climate Risks to Indigenous Peoples & Local Communities and the Nature within their Territories

While the crucial role of Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPs & LCs) and their territories in realizing global climate and conservation goals is well established, a significant gap exists in scientific knowledge in terms of the current and future implications of a changing climate on IPs’ & LCs’ territories. The newly established Global Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Center at Conservation International seeks to work with and for IPs & LCs to enhance the climate resiliency of these communities and their territories. As part of this effort, this project aims to understand the current and future impact of climate change on IPs & LCs and the biodiversity and carbon within their territories. Based on this understanding, the project team will identify strategies and actions that can be implemented to increase climate resiliency of IPs’ & LCs’ territories.

The core objectives of the project are to produce global and regional (Amazonia) maps of 8 major climate change impacts and risks to IPs & LCs, their territories, and the biodiversity and carbon within these regions; identify Nature-based Solutions (NbS) needed to reduce the climate impact on IPs & LCs in Amazonia and the nature within their territories; and analyze regional policy options that promote IPs’ & LCs’ implementation of NbS toward climate resilience and biodiversity conservation.