A study on the rights of indigenous peoples amid the global energy transition has been released ahead of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues’ (PFII) next annual session. Indigenous peoples possess a significant portion of the territories containing the world’s nature reserves, the authors note. The study provides recommendations on avoiding further injustices “resulting from a fossil fuel-based energy mix.”

The report highlights specific ways indigenous peoples view energy, which it says have been ignored in the current global model for producing, distributing, and consuming energy. In indigenous views of energy, it is “synonymous with life and spirit” and thus has a a different standing than that of a commodity that can be privatized. The author stresses that as governments, companies, and society change their energy production and consumption patterns to use less coal, oil, and gas (e.g. changing the “energy mix”), they must incorporate different views regarding the Earth’s energy.

In the context of post-pandemic economic recovery measures, some governments have relaxed licensing requirements for the exploration and exploitation of natural resources, including sources of renewable energy, and attempted to increase the flexibility of consultation and free, prior and informed consent processes, the study reports. 

The author notes that the transition to renewable energy sources, as it has occurred to date, does not change the model for community participation regarding environmental, social, and political degradation. Rather it simply replaces one source of energy with another through mega capital investments projects. Hydroelectricity generation, for example, does not emit greenhouse gases, but it has other negative effects on ecosystems and nearby communities. By 2010 approximately 12,000 hydroelectric power plans were located in indigenous territory or affected such territory. The projects generally lacked prior consultation and did not reasonably distribute their benefits; the report cites examples from Brazil, Ethiopia, Guyana, Malaysia, and Peru. As a result, some indigenous community members oppose such energy projects.

The study calls for:

• creating regional spaces for inter-agency work on indigenous peoples’ participation in national energy mix transformation plans;
• establishing an international arena for discussion on this issue between indigenous peoples and the UN system;
• accelerating actions to regulate and implement the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform;
• ensuring that efforts to implement the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration focus on transforming the global energy mix without harming the territories or rights of indigenous peoples; and
• national processes for transforming the energy mix should have effective participation of indigenous peoples

The study is authored by Darío José Mejía Montalvo, a PFII member. PFII 21 will convene from 25 April to 6 May 2022. 

The session will also consider a report from the UN Secretary-General on how the 2030 Agenda has been implemented with consideration of indigenous peoples. The report includes an overview of the voluntary national reviews (VNRs) presented by Member States in 2021, discussing their efforts to implement the SDGs for indigenous peoples. In 2021, 19 governments’ VNRs referred to indigenous peoples, most frequently in reviews of Goal 1 (no poverty), Goal 2 (zero hunger), Goal 5 (gender equality) and Goal 16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions). [Publication: The rights of indigenous peoples in relation to the global energy mix: Note by the Secretariat (E/C.19/2022/9)]