In the face of accelerating climate change, many scientific institutions rely on advanced technologies like satellite imagery, weather models, and big data to monitor environmental shifts. Yet, for thousands of years, Indigenous Peoples have observed and interpreted climate changes through finely tuned systems of relational knowledge, deeply embedded in land-based practices and generational memory.
These Indigenous climate indicators are not just data points—they are stories, teachings, and warnings, passed down through time and rooted in the interdependence of human and ecological systems. They reflect a worldview where the land, water, sky, and all beings above, among and below are living relatives—each communicating shifts in the Earth’s balance.
What Are Indigenous Climate Indicators?
Indigenous climate indicators are grounded in the seasonal and cyclical patterns Indigenous communities observe over millennia. These indicators are often place-based, holistic, and interdisciplinary, integrating physical, spiritual, and relational dimensions of environmental change.
Some examples include:
- Inuit hunters observe ice thickness or quality changes, sometimes weeks before satellite images detect unsafe conditions.
- Unusual smells in freshwater bodies—an early sign of algal blooms or oxygen depletion.
- Mismatched seasonal events, like geese migrating before freeze-up, as reported by the Denesuline in the subarctic regions of Canada.
- The taste and texture of snow can indicate shifts in air composition or atmospheric pollution.
Unlike Western science, which often isolates variables, Indigenous knowledge systems understand change as part of a broader, interconnected ecological narrative, recognizing how a single disruption can cascade across entire ecosystems.
Language as Climate Memory
Indigenous languages are not only repositories of culture—they are also tools for reading the environment. For example:
- The Inuit term “Uggianaqtuq” is used in Nunavut to describe weather that feels “strange” or “unusual.” It doesn’t translate directly into English, because it expresses more than just observation—it communicates concern, deviation from the norm, and emotional or spiritual dissonance.
- In Mi’kma’ki, Elder Albert Marshall introduced the concept of “Etuaptmumk” or “Two-Eyed Seeing,” which promotes the use of both Indigenous and Western lenses when approaching climate solutions, valuing each perspective as equally valid and necessary.
These linguistic frameworks provide nuance and context that Western science often overlooks, particularly regarding early warnings and culturally appropriate responses to environmental change.
Why These Indicators Matter
Indigenous climate indicators often detect changes earlier than Western technologies, offering critical lead time to adapt or respond. For example:
- Inuit hunters in the Arctic have long reported thinner, unpredictable sea ice—well before NASA satellites confirmed the shrinking ice cap.
- Anishinaabe harvesters have observed the decline of manoomin (wild rice) as water levels, fish patterns, and shoreline plants shift, signalling broader watershed changes not immediately visible in hydrological data.
These indicators are also relational—they carry the weight of responsibility. When an Elder notices something “off” in the land, it is not merely recorded; it becomes a call to ceremony, action, or teaching.
Supporting the Integration of Knowledge Systems
Increasingly, collaborative climate initiatives are recognizing the power of Indigenous observation. Projects like the Indigenous Climate Change Observation Network (ICCON) and Two-Eyed Seeing research programs have begun to bridge knowledge systems through respectful partnerships.
However, more work remains to ensure that Indigenous Knowledge is incorporated and respected on its terms, with Indigenous data sovereignty, cultural protocols, and community ownership at the forefront.
Recommendations for Readers
- Advocate for Indigenous-Led Research
- Support climate funding streams prioritizing Indigenous-led monitoring, research, and land-based education. Encourage governments and institutions to include Indigenous Knowledge Keepers in environmental decision-making bodies.
- Promote Equitable Knowledge Partnerships
- Encourage universities, climate organizations, and weather services to engage in ethical, co-designed research with Indigenous communities, where Indigenous Peoples define what is studied, how data is used, and how outcomes are shared.
- Educate Yourself
- Watch the CBC documentary on “Etuaptmumk: Two-Eyed Seeing” to understand how Indigenous and Western science can work in harmony. Explore additional resources through the Indigenous Climate Change Observation Network.
- Respect Indigenous Data Sovereignty
- Climate data shared by Indigenous Peoples must remain within their control. Advocate for policies and agreements that uphold Indigenous intellectual property rights and data stewardship protocols.
Blog by Rye Karonhiowanen Barberstock
(Image Credit : Teunard Droog, Unsplash)
The post Indigenous Climate Indicators: Reading the Land Beyond Western Metrics appeared first on Indigenous Climate Hub.
Indigenous Climate Indicators: Reading the Land Beyond Western Metrics
Climate Change
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The number of journalists registered to attend the annual climate negotiations in Bonn has declined this year, as climate reporters have been let go and media coverage of climate issues falls around the world.
Data from UN Climate Change, which runs the two weeks of talks, shows that just 135 media representatives have signed up to attend. Climate Home News analysis of previous data shows this is the lowest figure since 2021, when COVID-19 restrictions limited travel and the Bonn talks were held in a hybrid format to enable online participation.
The number of journalists that actually attend the talks will not be known until later this month but is typically significantly less than are registered. Press conferences, held back-to-back each day by campaign groups, have been sparsely attended in the first few days and often filled mainly with climate campaigners and researchers rather than journalists.
Alexandra Endres, a reporter for German-language website Table Briefings, told Climate Home News in Bonn there are fewer German journalists covering the conference in-person. “I think it is important to have more journalists covering the negotiations because when the climate coverage increases, the interest of the public grows,” she said.
Media outlets that have registered fewer journalists than previous years, or no journalists, include global heavyweights like Reuters, Bloomberg and the BBC, as well as German outlets like Deutsche Welle and ZDF television, and specialist publications like business information service Argus and climate broadcaster We Don’t Have Time.
Activist Harjeet Singh, who is in Bonn advising the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative, said that “the empty press seats here in Bonn are a warning signal. While the world’s gaze is often fixed on the annual COP summits, the real-world consequences of the climate crisis—from financing the fossil fuel transition to protecting vulnerable populations—are being shaped, or ignored, in these mid-year negotiations right now.”
“Journalists are the essential eyes and ears of the public,” he said. “We need them to shine a light on these rooms: hold negotiators accountable, defend the principles of equity and historical responsibility, and ensure that ‘technical’ negotiations do not become an excuse for delay.”
UN Climate Change said they could not comment on the situation at this point in the Bonn talks.
Climate coverage is falling
Outside of Bonn and the official UN climate negotiations, coverage of climate change is falling to lows not seen since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to analysis of newspapers and television reporting conducted by the Media and Climate Change Observatory (MECCO).
MECCO’s head Max Boykoff told Climate Home News that climate coverage in the first five months of 2025 was 35% down on the same period of 2025 and 41% less than in 2021. New analysis by the Yale Programme on Climate Change Communication found a similar fall in climate coverage in 2026.
Boykoff said media attention has been drawn away from climate change to issues like the Iran war and now the World Cup getting underway in North America.
While both stories have climate implications, he said, the media have “failed to connect the dots” on the conflict in the Middle East, with coverage focusing on the politics, air strikes and violence of the war. “Reporters have been pulling up short,” he said.
He added that since 2025 there have been cuts to climate teams at US outlets like the Washington Post, CBS, National Public Radio and the Los Angeles Times. On top of this, the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s Context website has been shut down and Politico recently folded specialist environmental outlet E&E News into its broader energy coverage.
Mark Hertsgaard, head of global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now, also said that fewer reporters at Bonn is “part of a larger pattern”. He said no US television network sent reporters to the recent Santa Marta conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels “and as a result they missed covering what turned out to be a landmark development in the climate story”.
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“No one can know if the Bonn talks will yield something similar until the [they] actually take place and conclude. But the fewer journalists that are on the scene, the less the world’s people and policymakers will know about that. And that’s a problem,” he said.
Media may also have been put off from attending by a new registration system which is more complicated, especially for freelance journalists. In addition, the rise in jet fuel prices has made travelling by plane to Bonn much more expensive than last year and reporters from many developing countries continue to face hurdles getting visas to enter the Schengen area, of which Germany is part.
Diego Arguedas Ortiz, who led the Oxford Climate Journalism Network from 2022 until it was shut down by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism in 2025, said journalists can’t cover the talks so well remotely.
While press conferences, plenaries and open negotiating sessions are broadcast for the public to watch on the UNFCCC’s website, Ortiz said relying solely on this means “you miss the interviews in the hall”.
“You can´t catch scientists and ministers as they leave the rooms. And the audience is back home suffering. Because audiences are relying on reporters and editors to explain how these seemingly abstract negotiations have daily implications for them,” he explained.
The post Fewer journalists register for Bonn talks, as cuts to climate reporting bite appeared first on Climate Home News.
Fewer journalists register for Bonn talks, as cuts to climate reporting bite
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