Protecting indigenous rights is key to a sustainable future

Protecting and learning from indigenous people’s traditional wisdom goes hand in hand with innovation in the fight to tackle climate change and ensure a sustainable future, writes Marion Heathcote of Davies Collison Cave on International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

Resources in the natural world are declining at a rate unprecedented in human history and should be a sobering and urgent call to action.

Political agendas look to clean technology and environmental innovation as core to finding the solutions. The importance of indigenous peoples and local communities’ engagement is underestimated, as are the benefits to be derived from their knowledge.

This knowledge has the potential to significantly alter our current world trajectory and help redress immediate and future challenges, especially in an ecological and sustainability context.