Indigenous-led public health organizations partner to explore pathways to build climate and ecosystem resilience.
Indigenous communities are among those most adversely affected by climate change, despite contributing very little to its causes. According to a recent United Nations, Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services report, biodiversity is declining less rapidly in lands that are traditionally owned, managed, used or occupied by Indigenous people. Colonial mindsets continue to be centered on resource-taking. Outside the U.S., Indigenous peoples have acted to mitigate and restore ecosystem balance through the institutionalization of Indigenous climate approaches. We need to do the same here in the U.S.