Study shows success of climate initiatives
Camilo Alejo, left, and Damon Matthews, right, are the co-authors of a new study that points to Indigenous-led climate initiatives as a key to meeting international climate commitments. Courtesy Concordia University
Appropriate funding of Indigenous-led conservation efforts may be the key to solving the global climate crisis, a new study from Concordia University has found, with data showing that Indigenous-led projects match or surpass similar initiatives with the correct supports.
“For governments, this is an opportunity to achieve environmental goals and also fulfill their commitments towards Indigenous people in Canada,” said Camilo Alejo, a postdoctoral fellow in Concordia University’s department of geography, planning, and environment, who is the lead author of a new research paper analysing the success of federally funded Indigenous-led conservation programs.
The open-source paper was co-authored by Damon Matthews, a professor in the same department at Concordia.
The researchers found that Indigenous-led initiatives typically performed better than federally and provincially protected areas (like national parks) when it comes to limiting carbon emissions, and that they performed just as well at conserving biodiversity.
Those Indigenous-led initiatives include Thaidene Nëné on the eastern arm of Great Slave Lake and Edéhzhíe to its west, which cover 40,000 square kilometres of land.
Some of that conservation work is covered by a stream of federal government funding called “Indigenous Guardians” funding, which provides Indigenous communities with the financial resources to lead conservation efforts, with $125 million of funding distributed since 2017.
Researchers compared land supported by that funding with two other types of land: Indigenous lands without federal funding and conventional protected lands, which includes national parks, analysing data between 2018 and 2020.
Areas covered by federally funded Indigenous-led projects saw significantly lower carbon loss between those years than the other areas, while also keeping biodiversity levels stable, a promising sign for how appropriate funding could drive positive change in climate conservation in the future.
“What we found was this very holistic approach towards environmental management that you would rarely find in a Western-based environmental project,” Alejo said. “You see this very holistic approach that isn’t just about a specific environmental outcome, but it’s about youth and elders connecting for environmental stewardship, it’s about bridging Western and Indigenous knowledge, and it’s about activating or promoting local economies.”
Government funding generates positive environmental outcomes – but the key is ensuring that funding is continuous and long-term, Alejo said. He said that the current government is “less ambitious” than the previous one in terms of achieving climate goals, and that the federal government should recognize the preliminary success of funding Indigenous-led climate projects when considering future funding allocations.
“The federal government shouldn’t step back from those, it should be a kind of policy and long-term approach that should continue,” he said. “What we’re saying with our study is that Indigenous people and Indigenous stewardship are a key piece of achieving climate targets and biodiversity targets. They’re an essential piece for achieving them.”
Long-term funding would help the government achieve international commitments that they’ve already made. For instance, Canada has signed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to commit to protecting 30 percent of each of its lands, inland waters, and oceans by 2030. But right now, Canada is still a ways off from meeting that target – the most recent data published by the Government of Canada shows that only just under 14 percent of its land and freshwater has been conserved and just over 15 percent of its marine territory.
Sign up for email updates from The Eastern Door
“We’re lagging behind,” Alejo said. “Indigenous-driven approaches to conservation are a successful pathway to reach these environmental targets, and this is in alignment with the long process of reconciliation with Indigenous people in Canada.”
Alejo said he is more than willing to share his research and thoughts with environmental organizations and individuals from the community – the paper, titled “Indigenous-Led Nature-Based Solutions Align Net-Zero Emissions and Biodiversity Targets in Canada” can be read for free online in the journal Earth’s Future.
