Nationally determined contributions in Asia: Are governments recognizing the rights, roles and contributions of indigenous peoples?

This report synthesises the findings from 10 country-level reports which examine how the rights, roles and knowledge of indigenous men, women, youth, and persons with disabilities are addressed in national-level climate policies and plans. At this key moment in international efforts to curb climate change, with countries having submitted their latest commitments and actions on climate mitigation and adaptation, the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) is partnering with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), through the UN-REDD Programme and the Forest Peoples Programme, on a study to shed light on how the rights, roles and knowledge of indigenous men, women, youth, and persons with disabilities are addressed in national-level climate policies and plans, such as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), REDD+ strategies, national adaptation plans, and relevant environmental laws in Asia.

This report provides the following findings:

• Status of Indigenous Peoples: While almost all of the countries supported the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and have ratified the International Bill of Human Rights, only a few of the national legal frameworks contain clear commitments to customary land and resource rights.
• Indigenous Peoples and climate change impacts: Being mostly directly dependent on the natural resources around them, Indigenous Peoples in all 10 countries are increasingly at the forefront of the impacts of higher temperatures and unpredictable weather patterns.
• Indigenous women, youth and persons with disabilities: These groups, including their key role in helping to protect forests and combat climate change, receive very little attention in the climate policies reviewed for this study.