Indigenous women from around the world united at the International Indigenous Women’s Day at the COP21 climate talks to demonstrate their central role in the battle against climate change. While Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka praised the draft climate agreement for shifting from being “gender-blind” to one that includes “gender references,” including a controversial section on climate finance, the women also recognized that the text required more work to strengthen Indigenous rights. Grace Balawag of the Indigenous Peoples’ International Center for Policy Research and Education discussed how the draft supports respecting the knowledge and traditions of Indigenous peoples (IPs) in adaptation to climate change; however, this part is left out in terms of mitigation and loss and damage. Photo credit: Fritzie Rodriguez/Rappler
