Canada’s vast landscape, stretching from the Pacific to the Atlantic and reaching into the Arctic, is home to a rich tapestry of Indigenous cultures. As climate change increasingly impacts these diverse regions, Indigenous communities are stepping up with innovative solutions. From the coastal rainforests of British Columbia to the icy shores of Nunavut, Indigenous-led initiatives are setting a new standard for climate action.
Pacific Coast: Coastal First Nations’ Marine Conservation
Along the rugged Pacific coastline, First Nations communities are leading groundbreaking conservation efforts that not only protect vital ecosystems but also mitigate climate change impacts.
(Image Credit: Getty Images [licenced], Unsplash)
The Great Bear Rainforest Agreement
One of the most significant achievements is the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement. This landmark conservation deal, led by Coastal First Nations, protects 6.4 million hectares of temperate rainforest. By preserving this vast carbon sink, the agreement plays a crucial role in climate change mitigation while also safeguarding biodiversity and Indigenous cultural practices.
Indigenous Guardian Programs
Coastal First Nations have established Indigenous Guardian programs, where community members act as the “eyes and ears” on their traditional territories. These Guardians monitor environmental changes, protect sensitive areas, and gather data that informs both traditional and scientific understanding of climate impacts.
For example, the Gitga’at Nation’s Guardians in northern British Columbia use a combination of traditional knowledge and modern technology to monitor marine ecosystems, track whale populations, and assess the health of important species like cedar trees.
Kelp Forest Restoration
In an innovative approach to both climate mitigation and adaptation, several Coastal First Nations are engaged in kelp forest restoration projects. Kelp forests sequester carbon, provide habitat for marine life, and help buffer coastlines against storm surges – an increasing threat due to climate change.
The Haida Nation, in partnership with Ocean Wise, has been cultivating kelp farms that not only capture carbon but also provide sustainable economic opportunities for the community.
Northwest Territories: Dehcho First Nations’ Carbon Offset Projects
In the Northwest Territories, the Dehcho First Nations are pioneering innovative methods to carbon management and land conservation.
Edéhzhíe Protected Area
The Dehcho First Nations worked with the Canadian government to establish the Edéhzhíe Protected Area, a vast 14,218 square kilometer region. This Indigenous Protected Area not only preserves crucial wildlife habitat but also serves as a significant carbon sink, contributing to Canada’s climate mitigation efforts.
Traditional Land-Use Planning
The Dehcho have developed a comprehensive land-use plan that incorporates traditional knowledge with scientific data. This plan guides sustainable development, protects critical habitats, and ensures that the land continues to support both ecological and cultural needs in the face of climate change.
Community-Based Monitoring Programs
Dehcho communities have implemented sophisticated monitoring programs that track environmental changes. By combining elder knowledge with scientific methods, these programs provide invaluable data on shifting wildlife patterns, changing ice conditions, and other climate-related impacts.
Prairies: First Nations’ Renewable Energy Initiatives
Across the Prairie provinces, First Nations are leading the charge in renewable energy development, demonstrating that economic development and climate action can go hand in hand.
(Photo Credit: American Jael, Unsplash)
Louis Bull Tribe’s Solar Projects
In Alberta, the Louis Bull Tribe has installed solar panels on virtually every community building. This initiative not only reduces the community’s carbon footprint but also provides energy security and economic benefits.
Fisher River Cree Nation’s Solar Farm
Manitoba’s Fisher River Cree Nation has developed the largest solar farm in the province. This 1-megawatt installation generates clean energy for the provincial grid, creating revenue for the community while contributing to climate change mitigation.
Skills Training and Green Job Creation
These renewable energy projects are doing more than just generating clean power – they’re also creating opportunities for Indigenous youth. Many communities are offering training programs in solar installation and maintenance, preparing the next generation for careers in the green economy.
Ontario: Anishinaabe Climate Action in the Great Lakes Region
In Ontario, Anishinaabe communities around the Great Lakes are taking such as the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg to climate adaptation and mitigation.
(Image Credit: Mark Ashford)
Traditional Rice Harvesting and Restoration
Climate change and water pollution have threatened wild rice (manomin) harvests, a staple food and cultural touchstone for many Anishinaabe communities. In response, nations like Curve Lake First Nation are leading restoration efforts, reviving traditional harvesting practices while also adapting to changing environmental conditions.
Water Protection Initiatives
Recognizing the fundamental importance of water, many Anishinaabe communities are spearheading water protection initiatives. The Saugeen Ojibway Nation, for instance, has developed a comprehensive water management strategy that combines traditional knowledge with scientific monitoring to protect the waters of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay.
Arctic: Inuit-Led Climate Resilience Strategies
In Canada’s Arctic, where climate change impacts are most pronounced, Inuit communities are at the forefront of adaptation efforts.
National Inuit Climate Change Strategy
The Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, representing Inuit across Canada, has developed a comprehensive National Inuit Climate Change Strategy. This pioneering document outlines Inuit-led approaches to issues like food security, infrastructure, and health in the context of rapid Arctic warming.
Community-Based Sea Ice Monitoring
In Nunavut, Inuit hunters are collaborating with scientists on community-based sea ice monitoring projects. By combining traditional knowledge of ice conditions with satellite imagery and other scientific data, these initiatives are improving safety for hunters and providing crucial information on changing Arctic environments.
(Image Credit: Annie Spratt, Unsplash)
Adaptation of Traditional Hunting Practices
As warming temperatures alter animal migration patterns and sea ice conditions, Inuit hunters are adapting their traditional practices. This includes adjusting hunting seasons, diversifying food sources, and developing new safety protocols for traveling on increasingly unpredictable ice.
Cross-Country Initiatives
While many climate initiatives are locally focused, Indigenous organizations are also driving nation-wide efforts to address climate change.
Indigenous Clean Energy Network
The Indigenous Clean Energy Network https://indigenouscleanenergy.com/ connects and supports clean energy projects in Indigenous communities across Canada. By facilitating knowledge sharing and providing technical support, this initiative is accelerating the transition to clean energy in Indigenous territories nationwide.
Assembly of First Nations’ National Climate Strategy
The Assembly of First Nations has developed a National Climate Strategy https://afn.ca/environment/national-climate-strategy/ that provides a framework for First Nations’ engagement in climate policy at all levels of government. This strategy emphasizes the importance of Indigenous knowledge in developing effective climate solutions.
Conclusion: The Power of Indigenous-Led Climate Action
From coast-to-coast-to-coast, Indigenous communities are demonstrating the power of place-based climate action. These initiatives not only address the immediate impacts of climate change but also promote sustainable livelihoods, preserve cultural practices, and assert Indigenous sovereignty.
As Canada grapples with the challenges of climate change, there is much to learn from these Indigenous-led approaches. By supporting and amplifying these efforts, and by creating more opportunities for Indigenous leadership in climate policy, we can build a more resilient, sustainable future for all Canadians.
The path forward is clear: effective climate action must respect Indigenous rights, incorporate traditional knowledge, and support Indigenous-led initiatives. As we face the growing climate crisis, the leadership of Indigenous communities across Canada offers not just hope, but a practical roadmap for creating a more sustainable, just, and resilient future.
– By Rye Karonhiowanen Barberstock
The post From Coast to Coast to Coast: How Indigenous Communities Across Canada are Tackling Climate Change appeared first on Indigenous Climate Hub.
From Coast to Coast to Coast: How Indigenous Communities Across Canada are Tackling Climate Change
Governments at the COP17 nature summit in Armenia agreed on Saturday to scale up their policies to protect the planet’s shrinking biodiversity, and for the first time invited large emerging economies like China and Gulf states to take on donor responsibilities to help fund those efforts.
For the past two weeks, countries held talks in Yerevan under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to outline a plan to ramp up currently “insufficient” policies to conserve land and marine ecosystems. A recent UN progress report found the world is off track to meet 22 out of 23 global targets aimed at reversing species loss and protecting 30% of land and seas by 2030.
While a response plan, called the “Global Review of Collective Progress”, was expected to be the main outcome of COP17, negotiations struggled to advance amid a deadlock over the controversial subject of how to finance the boost in conservation measures needed.
After an all-night session on Friday, delegates agreed to invite developing countries to voluntarily signal their interest in assuming donor funding obligations alongside developed nations. Negotiators repeatedly warned that any stronger provisions on expanding the donor base would collapse the deal.
COP president: Results beat expectations
An exhausted COP17 president Hambardzum Matevosyan, Armenia’s environment minister, told journalists in the early hours of Saturday that “we’ve achieved more than we could’ve expected” given the “importance” of the decisions being taken.
“It was 100% possible that those items did not made it through. 100% possible,” he said, adding that the conference had made progress on “all the most important items”.
Speaking at the closing plenary, the group of Pacific Islands said that, while the summit had achieved “great outcomes”, delegates are also departing Yerevan “with realities not reflected in the official text”, such as the low replenishment of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), a key funder of nature projects.
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Some observers also said the deal did not go far enough. Steven Guilbeault, a former Canadian environment minister who helped broker the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), said the Yerevan package of action is “an important step forward”, but still “falls short of what is needed to meet our 2030 commitments”.
An Lambrechts, biodiversity politics expert at Greenpeace International, said COP17 had kept things moving forward and set well-intentioned promises, but added that these “won’t remove major roadblocks to implementation” such as insufficient finance and debt constraints in developing countries.
WWF chief conservation officer Daudi Sumba noted that financial issues were not fully resolved. Despite the deal in Yerevan, “I fear finance will remain the key issue that continues to haunt the UN biodiversity summits,” he said in a statement.
‘Yerevan Pathway’ tackles nature plans and subsidies
In the lead-up to the summit, the UN assessment report showed countries are falling short on virtually all targets in the GBF, the 2022 global deal often referred to as the ‘Paris Agreement for nature’.
They include a landmark target to protect at least 30% of the planet’s land and sea by 2030. If countries all stick to their current national goals, about 26% of land would be protected and only about 12% of marine ecosystems would be under conservation measures.
The main COP17 decision – named the Yerevan Pathway by the presidency – calls for countries to revise their biodiversity plans, subject to available funding, with a particular focus on addressing the gap in coverage of “marine, coastal and inland water ecosystems”.
It also urges the over 60 countries who have not submitted a biodiversity plan yet to finalise them “as soon as possible” and taking into account the gaps identified by the UN progress report.
Countries also agreed to tackle the drivers of biodiversity loss by “accelerating” the reduction of subsidies for activities that damage nature. Subsidy reform, covered by Target 18 of the GBF, is where countries have made the least progress so far, according to the assessment report.
Jill Hepp, director of nature and marine policy and incentives at green group Conservation International, said singling out subsidies in the Yerevan Pathway “gives a strong signal” that closing the gap for biodiversity action requires “more urgent efforts to reform harmful incentives and scale up positive incentives”.
“Timid” steps to expand base of donors
Having failed to meet a target to channel $20 billion for biodiversity conservation by 2025 and faced with shrinking aid budgets, the EU pushed a proposal to expand the list of which countries count as donors, so that wealthy emerging economies like China and Saudi Arabia could also voluntarily contribute. The group of Arab nations strongly opposed this.
During the talks, Irish minister of state for nature, Christopher O’Sullivan, whose country holds the EU presidency, said the bloc wanted the world’s “new realities” to be reflected in the donor list.
Negotiations remained gridlocked for most of the two-week talks, until a last-day compromise was struck to invite developing countries that may want donor status “to indicate to the [Convention on Biological Diversity] secretariat their interest in being included in the corresponding list”.
Countries also asked the secretariat to send an invitation to emerging economies wanting donor status at each subsequent COP, and requested a technical report on “the implications of inclusion in the list” for emerging economies.
Swiss lead negotiator Gabriela Blatter said during one of the sessions that her country had expected greater steps towards expanding the base of contributing countries, but added that “if we’re mutually unhappy, it’s probably the closest we can get on these very delicate political compromises”. Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, also noted their dissatisfaction but said it had expected “a lot less”.
The fragile deal was approved in a package of decisions together with the Global Review, after some delegations including Brazil and China appealed to the plenary not to make further changes to the text at the risk of collapsing the whole agreement.
In a statement delivered to the closing plenary, the EU said the finance outcome had delivered “timid” progress towards fully broadening the base of donors.
Cali Fund still not operational
Adopted two years ago at COP16, the Cali Fund was seen by some observers as a way to channel private-sector finance into biodiversity conservation, as governments struggle to find public funds. But it is still struggling to get up on its feet.
The fund allows big corporations to access certificates for the use of genetic material found in biodiversity in return for a financial contribution, which experts estimate has the potential to raise up to $6.9bn for biodiversity. While voluntary, companies are encouraged to pay 1% of their profits or 0.1% of revenue into the fund.
But since its creation, the fund has received little more than $10,000, which Guilbeault argued is because the rules for disbursements to local communities and the operation of the fund had yet to be fleshed out. This was due to happen at COP17.
Yet, while the final decision on the fund laid out some of the rules – including how companies can earn “Cali Fund certificates” – some key technical details were left to the next COP in 2028 in Ecuador. This includes the issue of whether companies can pay a lower rate if they use genetic data for only a small portion of their products.
“By punting essential decisions to two years from now, parties have all but ensured the fund remains empty until then,” said Pakhi Das, a public policy advisor at NGO Plant-for-the-Planet.
The post COP17 delivers fragile deal to boost conservation and funding for nature appeared first on Climate Home News.
COP17 delivers fragile deal to boost conservation and funding for nature
SYDNEY, Thursday 30 October 2026 — In response to reports that the Albanese government is set to introduce draft legislation this year that would seek to ban data centres in Australia’s suburbs, Joe Rafalowicz, Head of Climate and Energy at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said:
“These reports are a testament to the growing community opposition to these completely inappropriate AI factories that have sprung up across our suburbs, and Big Tech corporations should take heed — the data centre build-out must not happen without the endorsement of the Australian people.
“But the government can’t simply ship this problem out to regional Australia without addressing the fundamental issues with this extractive new industry.
“We’re already seeing a trend of AI data centre proposals moving to the regions, in areas that are more water-scarce, more environmentally sensitive, and next to sources of fracked and coal seam gas to support their massive BYO gas-fired power plans — a pattern we’ve seen play out in the United States.
“From the Beetaloo Basin in the NT to the Western Downs in Qld, we’re seeing a wave of AI data centre proposals that would see new gas fast-tracked to support their massive energy demand, and threaten to completely derail Australia’s energy transition.
“Just as suburban Australians are asking, “what for?”, regional communities like Berry Springs and Dalby do not want dirty data centres setting up shop with absolutely no benefit to their communities. Greenpeace is calling for a moratorium on AI data centre developments until strict and enforceable safeguards are in place to protect our climate and our communities.”
-ENDS-
Media contact
Kate O’Callaghan on +61 406 231 892 or kate.ocallaghan@greenpeace.org
AI data centre ban in suburbs would not address fundamental issues: Greenpeace
In the thick of the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan in 2024, the UN climate talks were rattled by what can only be described as a major PR disaster. The BBC, Reuters and The Guardian all carried headlines, attributed to leading climate policy experts, that the COPs were “no longer fit for purpose”.
The articles outlined a series of reforms called for in an open letter signed by 22 eminent scientists and politicians, including a former UN secretary-general and previous UN climate chief, with a further 150 lending their support. The headlines shook confidence in the COP process, just as governments were wrestling over a new climate finance goal.
The Club of Rome – which handled the media relations for the letter – hurried to say that its “constructive, supportive ideas” had been “misinterpreted”. Negotiators kept calm(ish) and carried on, in the end landing the finance goal after some high-stakes drama on the final day.
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To my surprise, when I went back this week to read the letter again, I could not find the offending line about the COPs not being fit for purpose. The Club of Rome has yet to respond to my query about its disappearance.
Whatever happened to the wording, that sentiment has been widely shared. COPs have ballooned in size while the importance of their outcomes seems to have diminished since the 2015 Paris Agreement (with the exception of the 2023 COP in Dubai where countries agreed to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems).
The same on the surface
Two years on from those painful headlines in Baku, has anything changed for the better? You might be forgiven for thinking not. Official decisions are still made by