As an Indigenous geography scholar and researcher, I increasingly focus on the realities of climate change and its profound impact on ecology. In a recent class I co-instructed at the Queen’s University School of Urban and Regional Planning, I introduced students to ancestral Indigenous planning, centring on a 12th-century Iroquoian community model. The discussion illuminated how human interactions with the land and natural resources were determinants of community planning and fundamental to sustaining the delicate balance of human and non-human relations.
Exploring the interrelationship of people and place through the cultural geography of the Haudenosaunee, we delved into how identity itself is shaped by land and its natural actors. For a class filled with aspiring urban and regional planners—along with three practicing city planners—the experience was transformative. It quickly became apparent that planning must move beyond rigid zoning practices and embrace place-based autonomy, where decision-making aligns with the rhythms and needs of the land itself.
Haudenosaunee Knowledge and Climate Adaptation
The prevailing mindset in modern urban and regional planning has long been dictated by frameworks rooted in industrialization, urban sprawl, and resource extraction. Much of the profession adheres to highly regulated, standardized practices that prioritize short-term economic gain over long-term environmental sustainability. Yet Indigenous planning offers a profound alternative that considers the interconnectedness of people, land, and ecological cycles.
This perspective challenges the conventional notion that humans design space for habitation; instead, it asserts that we must enhance and harmonize with the natural rhythms of place. When we examined Haudenosaunee planning principles, students responded with genuine curiosity and awe. Concepts such as ensuring the autonomy of water sources were central to settlement adaptation, using topography for protection, and identifying prime lands for cultivation were revelatory for many.
The more students engaged with this knowledge, the more they recognized that contemporary urban and regional planning must evolve to address the growing need for sustainable living. Climate change is no longer a future concern—it is here and reshaping our landscapes. If planners and policymakers fail to integrate climate adaptation and Indigenous value systems into their frameworks, they risk perpetuating unsustainable models that continue to degrade the environment.
The Iroquoian Longhouse: A Model for Sustainable Design
A compelling example of Indigenous planning is the Iroquoian longhouse, a structure that served as both shelter and a communal space. Built from natural materials such as elm bark, the longhouse was constructed with deep respect for the land—only taking what was necessary, ensuring sustainability, and allowing trees to replenish. The longhouse’s design reflected a life-cycle systems approach; structures were built for 30 to 40 years before being returned to the earth, where they naturally decomposed and reintegrated into the landscape.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons (‘Exterior View of Traditional Iroquois Longhouse’).
The students were fascinated by the idea that communal spaces were designed with a finite yet renewable existence. In contrast, modern urban development often prioritizes permanence and expansion, creating structures that outlive their usefulness, contributing to urban decay and environmental strain. What if, instead, our urban centers were designed with adaptability in mind? What if materials used in construction aligned with ecological cycles rather than being treated as disposable waste?
The Power of Education in Transforming Urban Planning
Education systems are critical in fostering openness to new ideas and methodologies. However, much of the current urban planning curriculum is rooted in post-war suburban development models emphasizing efficiency, uniformity, and mass production. Integrating Indigenous value systems, environmental determinants, and climate change considerations into planning education is essential in fostering a holistic, future-focused approach to community development.
The challenge, of course, lies in decolonizing the profession itself. Innovation in urban and regional planning is often stifled in favour of “tried and true” practices prioritizing economic stability over ecological well-being. Yet, if planners are to truly serve the needs of future generations, they must expand their thinking beyond conventional models. Indigenous planning philosophies, such as those practiced by the Haudenosaunee, represent just one of the hundreds of cultural contributions that can help reshape human-centred design into more inclusive and regenerative.
A Call to Action: Expanding Thought, Embracing Change
If climate change is to be effectively addressed in community development, it must be at the forefront of planning discussions, not an afterthought. Recognizing the significance of place-based planning, environmental stewardship, and Indigenous knowledge systems is not an elective enhancement but a necessary revolution.
Urban and regional planning must evolve beyond rigid regulations and embrace the knowledge that has sustained Indigenous communities for millennia. The interconnectedness of land, water, climate, and human habitation must become central to planning efforts. This requires an intentional shift in education that welcomes new perspectives, cultural inclusivity, and Indigenous methodologies as fundamental learning components. It is not merely about integrating Indigenous knowledge for inclusion but about recognizing its profound value in creating sustainable, resilient, and thriving communities.
In the face of climate change, the question is no longer whether we need change but whether we are willing to embrace it. The wisdom of Indigenous planning offers a pathway forward, one rooted in reciprocity, sustainability, and deep respect for the land. Now is the time to expand our thinking, decolonize our approaches, and integrate climate consciousness into planning.
For the future of our communities, ecosystems, and generations, we must choose transformation over stagnation, reciprocity over exploitation, and sustainability over short-term convenience.
– By Rye Karonhiwanen Barberstock
(Header Image Credit: A.C., Licenced, Unsplash+)
The post Decolonizing Urban and Regional Planning: Haudenosaunee Knowledge, Stewardship, and Climate Adaptation appeared first on Indigenous Climate Hub.
Climate Change
Trump Administration Abandons Fight Against Wind Energy as Clean Energy Output Surges
The clean energy sector is showing resilience despite challenges thrown at it by a hostile White House, a recent report found. A string of legal victories has further dampened the Trump administration’s efforts to halt wind and solar power.
The Trump administration has abandoned its effort to halt wind energy projects across the United States and dropped its challenge to the court ruling that tossed President Donald Trump’s order freezing federal permitting and leasing for wind projects. States that challenged the order hailed the development as one of the most significant legal victories against the Trump White House’s campaign against the energy transition.
Trump Administration Abandons Fight Against Wind Energy as Clean Energy Output Surges
Amid reports that the government could weaken the UK’s electric vehicle (EV) targets, Carbon Brief analysis reveals the nation’s EV drivers are saving more than £1,100 a year in fuel costs, compared with running a petrol car.
Battery EVs (BEVs) are roughly four times more efficient than combustion-engine cars, making them far cheaper to run – particularly since the Iran crisis caused a spike in fossil-fuel prices.
The savings from driving BEVs are also more than three times higher than for “plug-in” hybrids (PHEVs), which evidence shows are mostly driven with their combustion engines.
In total, the more than 2m BEVs, 1m PHEVs and 100,000 electric vans on UK roads are saving drivers around £3bn a year, Carbon Brief’s analysis shows, as illustrated in the figure below.
In addition, these EVs are avoiding the need for nearly 2.5bn litres of fuel and cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by nearly 7m tonnes each year.
Despite recent news that EVs are now cheaper to buy than petrol cars, as well as having far lower running costs, BBC News says the government is “set to water down” its EV sales targets.
The broadcaster explains that the current goal, under the UK’s “zero-emissions vehicle” (ZEV) mandate, is for 80% of new car sales to be BEVs by 2030.
It says that the government is set to consult on weakening this to between 50% and 70%, following “lobbying” by carmakers and trade unions.
According to the Sunday Times, prime minister Keir Starmer “is understood to have overruled the energy secretary [Ed Miliband] after sustained pressure from industry, the Unite union and Peter Kyle, the business secretary”.
The car industry has consistently claimed there is insufficient demand for BEVs to meet the targets under the ZEV mandate, yet the government says manufacturers have “over-complied” to date. Independent analysts say the industry is on track to continue beating the ZEV mandate goals.
The industry has been able to beat its targets by using a wide range of “flexibilities”, which were introduced after a previous round of lobbying. These allow carmarkers to meet part of their EV targets by selling more efficient combustion cars, such as hybrids and plug-in hybrids.
The ZEV mandate is the single-largest part of the government’s plans to meet its legally binding climate goals over the next decade.
The advisory Climate Change Committee (CCC) previously warned that the extra flexibilities would result in a larger number of hybrids being sold, at the expense of battery EVs.
When it consulted on the ZEV mandate in 2023, the then-Conservative government noted that PHEVs do not deliver the cost and CO2 savings they are advertised with.
It pointed to “dramatic” differences between the performance of PHEVs in test cycles and what they deliver under real-world conditions.
In practice, less than a third of miles driven in PHEVs are fuelled by electricity, with petrol making up the rest. As a result, cost and CO2 savings from BEVs are three times larger than for PHEVs.
The post Analysis: UK’s EV drivers are now saving £1,100 each a year – and £3bn in total appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Analysis: UK’s EV drivers are now saving £1,100 each a year – and £3bn in total
Civil society groups have called for an investigation into the first carbon credits approved under a new UN mechanism, alleging the project is linked to Myanmar’s military junta – which the UN says is guilty of human rights abuses – and has “massively” overstated its climate impact.
The programme, which aims to cut emissions by distributing efficient cookstoves across Myanmar, received approval to issue around 650,000 carbon credits from the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body in February, in a landmark moment for the Paris Agreement’s carbon market. Only two projects have been given the green light by the mechanism’s regulator so far.
But two reports published last week, led by the Global Forest Coalition and Brussels-based NGO Carbon Market Watch, raised serious concerns about the project’s implementation in conflict zones where civilians have faced airstrikes and mass displacement as well as its emission-reduction calculations.
Project continued after military coup
Myanmar has been ravaged by a brutal civil war since the country’s military overthrew the democratically elected government in a coup d’état in February 2021. The military regime has attacked civilian populations, persecuted ethnic minorities and committed widespread sexual violence, among other serious human rights violations, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar said in April.
The cookstove programme started in 2018 under the previous UN-run carbon offsetting scheme – the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) – as a partnership between Myanmar’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MONREC) and the Climate Change Center (CCC), a South Korean NGO, with investment from private South Korean firms.
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The project continued operating after the coup. For most of the period between 2021 and 2022 in which the issued credits were generated, MONREC was led by Colonel Khin Maung Yi, who was sanctioned by the European Union in 2021 for supporting the military regime, the Global Forest Coalition report said.
CCC acknowledged engaging with government authorities after the coup but said this “should not be interpreted as political endorsement” of the junta. The South Korean NGO added that abandoning the programme when political circumstances changed “would not necessarily have been the most responsible outcome for the households involved”.
Conflict prevents on the ground verification
The Global Forest Coalition report raised particular concerns about the project’s implementation in Myanmar’s central Dry Zone, including Sagaing Region, an anti-junta resistance stronghold that has been most heavily affected by the conflict and routinely targeted by airstrikes and violent attacks. The region accounts for more than a third of Myanmar’s 3.8 million internally displaced people.
The NGOs said that, in addition to ethical concerns about carbon credits being produced by the military government in an area actively affected by its attacks, this raises questions over the ability to effectively verify the climate integrity of the projects.
Before carbon credits are issued, external auditors need to validate the claims made by project developers and confirm that the emission reductions claimed are correct. This process usually includes site visits to a representative sample of households to check how the improved cookstoves are being used.
But, because of the “volatile political situation” in Myanmar, the auditing team was not able to leave the capital Yangon and could only speak to project participants remotely via Zoom, project documents show.
“Due to ongoing armed conflict on the ground, the data currently used to justify carbon credit issuance in Sagaing by the Burmese military junta is unverifiable and highly likely fraudulent,” said Zaw Tuseng, founder and president of the Myanmar Policy Institute, which contributed to the report, in a written statement. “This demands an immediate suspension of credit transfers until a neutral, conflict-sensitive audit can be conducted.”
“Exceptional circumstances”
CCC told Climate Home News that, although it recognises that on-site verification is “generally preferable, particularly in complex operating environments”, the decision to opt for remote controls was not taken “as a discretionary shortcut, but as an approved alternative under exceptional circumstances”.
The South Korean NGO added that it reviewed the feasibility of the project at community level “on an ongoing basis” and it “did not identify conflict-related incidents that directly affected project implementation activities in participating communities during the monitoring period”.
A spokesperson for the UN climate change body told Climate Home News that, when site access is not possible, the UN carbon credit mechanism allows for “alternative verification approaches while still maintaining conservative assumptions and environmental integrity safeguards”. “These provisions ensure that crediting can only proceed where evidence is reliable,” they added.
Contested methodology
Carbon markets are seen as an important channel to raise money to help low-income communities in developing countries switch to less polluting cooking methods, both reducing CO2 emissions and improving air quality. But several cookstove offsetting projects have faced criticism from researchers and campaigners who argue that climate benefits are often exaggerated and weak monitoring can undermine claims of real emission reductions.
The project in Myanmar uses a contested methodology developed under the earlier Kyoto Protocol that was rejected last year by The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM), a watchdog that issues quality labels to carbon credit types, because it found it “insufficiently rigorous”.
EU carbon credits could supercharge world’s clean cooking push, France says
After transitioning from the CDM to the new mechanism, the project was required to apply “more conservative” assumptions to calculate emission reductions, which resulted in 40% fewer credits being issued, according to the UN climate change body.
“The result is consistent with environmental integrity requirements and ensures that each credited tonne genuinely represents a tonne reduced and contributes to the goals of the Paris Agreement,” Mkhuthazi Steleki, the South African chair of the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body, which oversees the mechanism, said in February.
Too many credits issued
But Carbon Market Watch claimed in a second report last week that, despite the adjustment, the project is still likely to issue seven times more credits than its real climate impact justifies, comparing its calculations with values from peer-reviewed scientific literature.
The biggest driver of the credit inflation, the group said, is the failure to account for “stacking” – the widespread practice of households using multiple stoves at the same time, including more polluting ones the project does not monitor.
Peer-reviewed science considers a stacking rate of 68% a conservative assumption, but the methodology used by the Myanmar programme makes no allowance for it at all, the report said.
CCC disputed those findings. In a written response to Climate Home News, it said the project was developed under methodologies approved within the UN climate framework and that external recalculations by researchers are not “determinative of the level of crediting achieved”.
The credits are expected to be used primarily by major South Korean polluters to meet obligations under the country’s emissions trading system – a move that will also enable the government to count those units toward emissions reduction targets in its nationally determined contribution (NDC), the UN climate body told Climate Home News.
Myanmar will use the remaining credits to achieve in part the goals of its own national climate plan under the Paris Agreement.
“Over-crediting, at any magnitude, cannot be compatible with the climate ambition of a world striving to limit global warming to 1.5ºC,” said Isa Mulder, an expert at Carbon Market Watch.
The post UN’s first Paris Agreement carbon credits face human rights and climate concerns appeared first on Climate Home News.
UN’s first Paris Agreement carbon credits face human rights and climate concerns
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