Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities in Acre, Brazil, are pioneering forest conservation — and shaping how climate finance is used to keep their forests standing. Told through their own voices, UNDP's documentary reveals how they navigate daily realities while protecting Acre’s Amazon Forest for future generations.
Indigenous Peoples
As dawn breaks over the Ororubá Mountains in Pernambuco, Brazil, Indigenous youth from the Xukuru do Ororubá people work in a nursery, reviving native plant species, especially those with medicinal value. Led by Ângela Neves Pereira (“Bella”), they aim to restore not just the land but their cosmogony, identity, culture and balance. Since 2023, the Xukuru people and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have collaborated on Indigenous Peoples' biocentric restoration, a method that prioritizes the well-being of all living things within an ecosystem. Supported by Brazil’s government and FAO’s AIM4Forests programme, this initiative enhances Indigenous knowledge and aims to restore at least 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2030.
UNOPS is completing 62 Indigenous and Quilombola schools across Brazil, blending traditional knowledge with modern education to empower youth, preserve cultural identity, and promote sustainable development.
From the Amazon to the Arctic, Joenia Wapichana and Sara Olsvig are demanding that the shift to sustainable energy respect Indigenous rights, knowledge, and self-determination.
The weaving practices of these communities in Cameroon are being revitalized to preserve cultural heritage and promote economic autonomy.
UNESCO brought together two of Africa’s remaining hunter-gatherer communities to test the CyberTracker application that allows users to record animal tracks, signs, and ecological data.
Without a doubt, artificial intelligence is helping Indigenous Peoples in many ways, from revitalizing their culture to empowering youth and strengthening climate resilience. However, without their full participation, AI can deepen bias and exclusion within these communities. This International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (9 August) calls for shaping an AI that is inclusive, ethical, and just. Let’s recognize Indigenous Peoples as rights-holders, co-creators, and decision-makers in the development and governance of AI. Join our online event and spread the word!
The rights of Indigenous Peoples are being discussed at the Human Rights Council in Geneva (14–18 July), with a focus on their rights with regard to data collection and disaggregation and their rights to maintain their traditional economies. The session will also review national efforts aimed at implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This is the 18th session of the Expert Mechanism, which advises the Council and supports Member States in advancing the Declaration’s goals.
Ms. Sara Olsvig, International Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, addresses critical issues facing Inuit communities in the Arctic, including her home country of Greenland. She served on the UN Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals in 2024 and is a speaker at the 24th Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (21 April – 2 May 2025), focusing on financing Indigenous participation in critical minerals.
Join indigenous leaders, UN bodies, NGOs, and global partners at the 24th UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (21 April–2 May 2025, New York). This year’s Forum will spotlight successful initiatives and ongoing challenges in advancing the rights of indigenous peoples within UN Member States and the UN System. Established in 2000, the Forum advises on key issues like socioeconomic development, culture, environment, health, education, and human rights. Alongside the 10-day program, the Forum will host side events and an Indigenous Media Zone for Indigenous-led reporting and media engagement.
Indigenous Women are vital food providers, custodians of seeds, and guardians of biodiversity. They preserve Indigenous knowledge, agri-food systems, and cultures, deeply connected to their ancestral lands. Despite their significant contributions to food security and medicine, they often remain invisible in statistics and decision-making due to a lack of disaggregated data and persistent discrimination. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is collaborating with Indigenous Women and universities to address this data gap and involve them in decision-making. Since 2015, FAO has partnered with Indigenous Women’s organizations to run leadership schools on Human Rights and Food Security, training over 300 women to participate in international negotiations and processes.
The Garifuna are an Afro-Indigenous community in Honduras, numbering between 50,000 and 100,000, primarily relying on fishing and subsistence agriculture. They face historical and structural barriers leading to inequality, discrimination, and rights violations. Despite three favorable rulings from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights regarding the titling of their ancestral lands, corporate land grabs and inadequate enforcement hinder their rights. In February 2024, the Honduran government established a high-level commission (CIANCSI) to facilitate the restitution of ancestral lands for communities like Triunfo de la Cruz. UN Human Rights reports that land-related conflicts contribute to violence, displacement, and food insecurity, with nearly a third of the 308 human rights defenders attacked in 2023 being indigenous or Afro-Honduran.
In the Peruvian Amazon, indigenous women are spearheading ecological restoration in the Cordillera Azul National Park buffer zone, addressing deforestation that has impacted over 7,945 hectares of forest. Communities like Santa Rosa de Aguaytía (Shipibo-Conibo) and Yamino and Mariscal Cáceres (Kakataibo) are restoring biodiversity while revitalizing ancestral knowledge. Leaders such as Nilda Vásquez plant native trees, like the endangered ishpingo, alongside agroforestry crops like cacao, creating wildlife corridors and boosting family incomes. Supported by the Sustainable Productive Landscapes project, 2,658 hectares have been restored, improving biodiversity and ecosystem services. This collective effort strengthens governance, climate resilience, and the communities' connection to their land, ensuring a sustainable future for people and nature.
Two Bajau girls in Mabul island are seen selling their catch of mostly shellfish, lobster, snails, sea cucumbers and sea urchins. The Bajau Laut are a sea-faring group that traditionally lived across the Sulu Sea on small wooden boats called lepa, getting everything they needed from the ocean. Due to the creation of maritime borders that disregarded the distribution of ethnic groups, as well as other modern developments that clashed with their nomadic way of life, new generations of Bajau Laut have been forced to settle on land, not recognized as citizens by any country. The denial of citizenship means stateless people are often unable to access basic rights and services, such as state education, water, healthcare, and legal employment, leaving them at higher risk of exploitation, discrimination and abuse.
In 2023, a youth-led movement received a grant from the GEF Small Grants Programme, implemented by UNDP, to launch an environmental education project aimed at raising awareness and preparing students to address the various issues affecting their community.
Worldwide, there are approximately 200 groups of Indigenous Peoples currently living in voluntary isolation or making their first contact with the outside world. While there is no formal, legal definition of this status, ‘Indigenous Peoples in isolation’ are typically villages with little or no contact with other peoples or communities. The Matsés native community, comprised of 3,200 people, live in voluntary isolation in the Amazon Forest along the Javari River in Peru. Their ancestral territory, spanning 512,000 hectares, was officially recognized in December 2020, making the Matsés the first indigenous community in Peru to achieve this status.