Problem
Indigenous Peoples make up approximately 6% of the world’s population, about 476 million people. Indigenous Peoples and their territories are estimated to be protecting and defending over 80% of the world’s biodiversity. Despite the richness of their culture and their land, and despite the crucial role Indigenous Peoples play in protecting them, they make up more than 15% of the world’s extreme poor. Indigenous Peoples in all parts of the world fight against discrimination and targeted violence, struggle against a shrinking civic space, lack recognition of their rights as peoples, and suffer from land dispossession, evictions and the negative consequences of climate change and conservation efforts.
Solution
IWGIA is a human rights organisation that promotes, protects and defends Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination. We believe that Indigenous Peoples as rights holders are powerful agents of change. Our partnership with their organisations and institutions is at the centre of all our work. We work through a global network of Indigenous Peoples’ organisations and international human rights bodies. We document the human rights violation Indigenous Peoples experience to promote respect for their individual and collective rights and advocate for change at local, regional and international levels. Most importantly, we empower Indigenous Peoples’ own organisations to amplify their movement of exercising their rights over land, territories and natural resources, self-governance and self-determination and the battle against climate change.