Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) supports the recognition, advancement and implementation of human rights related to the environment in a multifaceted approach, including through the Environmental Rights Initiative - a package of rights-based work undertaken by UNEP and partners to promote, protect and respect human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

This year, we explore how one of UNEP’s Champions of the Earth is advocating for the right to a healthy environment by raising public awareness about air pollution.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, for Maria Kolesnikova, this year’s Champion of the Earth for Entrepreneurial Vision, a picture was worth starting a movement.

It was 2016 and Kolesnikova, a public relations professional, then aged 28, was volunteering for MoveGreen, a youth-led environmental organization in the Kyrgyz Republic.

There, someone showed Kolesnikova a picture of Bishkek, looking down from the mountains that surround the Kyrgyz capital. “Only you couldn’t see the city,” she said. “Bishkek was just covered in this blanket of grey. We didn’t know what to call it; what we knew was that it was really bad.”

Bishkek, home to roughly 1 million people is among the world’s cities with the worst air pollution. During winter months, it is often trapped under a dome of smog derived both from its natural environment – the city’s temperature is, on average, 5°C warmer than its surroundings – and smoke from the coal used to heat most homes.

“We wanted to understand more about what was in the air that we were breathing, and what data the city was collecting in order to try and make things better,” said Kolesnikova. “But we didn’t find any relevant, actual data – either it was not being collected or it was not being shared. So, we decided to produce data ourselves.”

A modest beginning

MoveGreen started with just three sensors to measure air quality, namely, by monitoring for the first time in the Kyrgyz Republic the levels of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) produced by burning coal and other fuels, combustion, and dust. In high enough concentrations, it can cause inflammation of the lungs and other respiratory illnesses. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution causes up to 7 million deaths every year.

When the first measurements came back, Kolesnikova and the team at MoveGreen took a bold decision. Launching a campaign called “School Breathes Easily”, they took their message to a population that was ready to listen: Bishkek’s schoolchildren. Globally, 93 per cent of children live in environments where air pollution levels are above WHO guidelines. Around 600,000 die prematurely each year because of air pollution, and exposure to dirty air can also impair cognitive and motor development and puts children at greater risk for chronic disease later in life.

In Bishkek, sensors were installed in schools to measure air quality so that classrooms could keep their windows closed when the air pollution was too much. Educators also used the data to warn parents about keeping their children from being exposed to fine particulates. Today, there are over 100 sensors installed in the city and region.

The success of the school-based campaign encouraged Kolesnikova, who by this time had risen to become the Director of MoveGreen. It was not enough to collect the data; a movement was needed to convince decision-makers to improve Bishkek’s air quality.

MoveGreen developed an app, now available globally, called AQ.kg a real-time collector and transmitter of actionable data about air quality. The application aggregates data every 20 minutes from the two largest Kyrgyz cities, Bishkek and Osh, about the concentration of pollutants in the air, ​including the tiny particle PM2.5 and its larger cousin, PM10.

“Our data has been challenged, our methods have been challenged – by those who say that citizen monitoring data is unreliable,” said Kolesnikova. “But we kept having meetings and we kept going back and now, they listen. The result of our work has been in connection with the government, to improve environmental monitoring in Bishkek, to do a better job of monitoring and reducing emissions.”

“Kolesnikova’s work reflects how individuals and citizens can drive environmental change by leveraging the power of science and data”, said Inger Andersen Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. “So often, people wonder if there’s anything they can do to combat pollution, climate change and the other threats to the planet. Maria Kolesnikova proves that there is. Her dedication is remarkable and shows that we can all play a role in putting the planet on the path to a better future.”

Kolesnikova’s crowning as a Champion of the Earth came just days before Human Rights Day, which falls on 10 December. It was an unexpected synergy. The United Nations declared earlier this year that having a healthy, sustainable environment is a human right, a position Kolesnikova supports.

“It’s our right to breathe clean air,” she said.

Future plans

MoveGreen’s plans in the coming months include calling for policies at the municipal and national level to develop bills that require regular public information sessions about the results of air quality measurements. The Kyrgyz Republic has committed to global targets to fight climate change, including an unconditional goal of reducing Green House Gas emissions by over 16 per cent by 2025.

There are immense opportunities for alternative energy sources; just 10 per cent of Kyrgyzstan’s hydropower potential has been developed, and other renewable energy options could include boosting heating and electricity supply through wind, solar and biogas. There are immense opportunities for alternative energy sources; just 10 per cent of Kyrgyzstan’s hydropower potential has been developed, and other renewable energy options could include boosting heating and electricity supply through solar, wind, biogas, ​a fuel often produced from agricultural waste. 

According to Kolesnikova, if there was more investment in science in Kyrgyzstan, the country would be able to engineer its own solutions and create an eco-friendly society that exists in harmony with the nature around it, including her beloved mountains.

Because air pollution has no borders, Kolesnikova and MoveGreen are entering into regional arrangements with other Central Asian countries. Her goal is to convince the region’s six states to collaborate on ways to tackle air pollution in their growing cities. Putting in place systems and standards to assess air quality will be critical. A recent UNEP study found that only 57 countries continuously monitor air quality, while 104 have no monitoring infrastructure in place.

Kolesnikova says she’s driven by the desire to make the world a better place.

“So often, you can get demotivated as an activist – you work so hard, don't see results of your endeavors and, finally, you feel like you don’t want to keep going. But then you realize, no. Someone has to take responsibility for the future. Why shouldn’t it be me?”

The United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP’s) Champions of the Earth and the Young Champions of the Earth recognize individuals, groups and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. Presented annually, the Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour.

UNEP’s air pollution dashboard provides real-time data on air pollution across the world, its impact on human health and national efforts to tackle this issue.

To most people, fins, masks and neoprene wetsuits are recreational gear. But to the non-profit group Sea Women of Melanesia, this year’s Champion of the Earth for Inspiration and Action, they are the tools of change.

Clad in diving gear, the group’s 30-plus members chart the health of the fragile coral reefs that surround Melanesia, a grouping of island nations in the South Pacific. Their goal: teaching local women scuba diving and biology skills so they can monitor the health of coral reefs and create and restore marine protected areas.  

“I remember the first time I went and talked to a fishing village to try and recruit some women to join our programme,” recalled Israelah Atua, a member of the Sea Women. “They didn’t even want to hear us. But we convinced them that marine conservation is necessary to protect all of our livelihoods.”

The Sea Women work in what’s known as the Coral Triangle, which covers some 5.7 million square kilometres between the Great Barrier Reef and the island archipelagos of Melanesia and South East Asia. Brimming with marine life, it is one of the world’s premier destinations for underwater tourism and home to a major fisheries industry. It is also exceptionally threatened by surging human populations and waste levels.

Coral reefs the world over are under siege from climate change, overfishing and pollution. Since 2009 alone, almost 14 per cent of the world’s corals have disappeared, according to a recent report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Many of those that remain are endangered.

Healthy reefs are critical to withstand climate change impacts, including ocean acidification and extreme events. But the report shows that, unless drastic action is taken to limit global warming to 1.5°C, a 70 - 90 per cent decrease in live coral on reefs could occur by 2050.   

The good news is that coral reefs are resilient and can recover if the marine environment is safeguarded. The Sea Women initiative, which is run by the Coral Sea Foundation, has since 2018 worked across the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea to promote restoration of coral reefs and support the establishment of no-fishing areas. It also supports marine protected areas in the two countries, to ensure there is abundant fish life for villagers to rely on in future.

The Sea Women are simultaneously changing narratives about a woman’s role in her community and her opportunities for leadership.

“Having a woman in the community who can advocate for the marine reserve process and marine conservation, in a local language, is important to get the initial messages out about the importance of marine protected areas,” said Andy Lewis, the executive director of the Coral Sea Foundation. “There can be no conservation work done in these countries without explicit recognition of indigenous culture.”

For the Sea Women, combining indigenous knowledge with science is central to their engagement with communities. Learning from community members about where fish are most plentiful at a certain time of year, or matching the color change in coral reefs with underwater survey data, or understanding how tides may shift as a function of climate change is important to the outreach they do to demonstrate the value of preservation and marine protected areas.

But equally, the Sea Women say, they are challenging indigenous conventions about a woman’s role in her household, community and society.

“When you train a woman, you train a society,” said Evangelista Apelis, a SeaWoman and co-director of the Sea Women programme based in Papua New Guinea. “We're trying to educate women, get women on board, so they can then go back and make an impact in their own families and their society as well."

The Sea Women undergo a rigorous marine science training programme, which is supplemented by practical training in reef survey techniques and coral reef ecology. Then they learn to dive.

“What I love most about my job is being able to experience the beauty of the underwater world,” said Apelis. “Before going down, you just imagine all sorts of things but the reality is even more mesmerizing – the fish, the shipwrecks… it’s like everything just came alive.” Each of the Sea  Women is supported through internationally recognized scuba diving certification and taught how to use GPS, underwater cameras and video to survey fish and coral populations on the Coral Triangle’s reefs. Their work since 2018 has led to proposals for more than 20 new marine protected areas in the waters of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

“Coral reefs are a sanctuary for marine life and underpin the economies of countless coastal communities,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP’s Executive Director. “Coral reefs are vital to the future of our planet and the work done by the Sea Women to safeguard these beautiful, diverse ecosystems is nothing short of inspirational.”

For Naomi Longa, a team leader for the Sea Women in the West New Britain Province of Papua New Guinea, helping create marine reserves means that she is not only a leader in her community but also set a course for the future. As population pressures on land add to the stress on the sea, the marine reserve programme is an investment into long-term well-being for communities vulnerable to stresses and shocks.

“We are actually saving food for the future generation,” she said. “There are species dying out, so some of the species that are living in those marine reserves may be the only species left when our future generations are born.”

The United Nations Environment Programme’s Champions of the Earth and the Young Champions of the Earth recognize individuals, groups and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. Presented annually, the Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour.

The United Nations General Assembly has declared the years 2021 through 2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations together with the support of partners, it is designed to prevent, halt, and reverse the loss and degradation of ecosystems worldwide. It aims at reviving billions of hectares, covering terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems. A global call to action, the UN Decade draws together political support, scientific research, and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration. Visit www.decadeonrestoration.org to learn more.

When Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley stood up in front of the United Nations General Assembly earlier this year, she was not in a mood to pull punches. In front of world leaders, she decried the “faceless few” who were pushing the world towards a climate catastrophe and imperilling the future of small-island states, like her own.

“Our world knows not what it is gambling with, and if we don’t control this fire, it will burn us all down,” she said in September. Drawing on the lyrics of reggae great Bob Marley, she added: “Who will get up and stand up for the rights of our people?”

The impassioned speech would grab headlines around the world and for many, it was an introduction to Mottley. But the Barbados Prime Minister, this year’s Champion of the Earth for Policy Leadership, has spent years campaigning against pollution, climate change and deforestation, turning Barbados into a frontrunner in the global environmental movement.

“Prime Minister Mottley has been a champion for those who are most vulnerable to the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity and nature loss, and pollution and waste,” said Inger Andersen, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “Her passionate advocacy and policy achievements are prime examples of how world leaders can take bold, urgent action on environmental issues.”

Mottley was elected Prime Minister in 2018 with more than 70 per cent of the popular vote, becoming Barbados’ first female leader since independence in 1966. Under her watch, the country has developed an ambitious plan to phase out fossil fuels by 2030. Her vision is for nearly every home on the island to have solar panels on the roof and an electric vehicle out front.

Mottley, who has said she finds inspiration in the forests that cover nearly 20 per cent of Barbados, has also overseen a national strategy to plant more than 1 million trees, with participation from the entire population. The plan aims to foster food security and build resilience to a changing climate.

It’s a push that couldn’t be timelier as a new UNEP report suggests the world is careening towards a temperature rise of 2.7°C, a number that could lead to catastrophic changes for the planet’s ecosystems. With Mottley’s urging, Latin America and the Caribbean became the first region in the world to agree on the Action Plan for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, an effort to prevent and reverse the degradation of natural spaces worldwide. A UNEP report published in June 2021 found that for every dollar invested in ecosystem restoration, up to US$30 are yielded in economic benefits.

Ultimately, Mottley believes that tackling environmental decline is vital to spurring economic development and combating poverty. Responding to climate-related disasters “affects your ability to finance your development on the Sustainable Development Goals,” she said. “Other things that matter to people on a day-to-day basis, like education, like healthcare, like roads, all become affected because you have limited fiscal space to be able to do that which you otherwise would.”

She has also been a vocal advocate for developing countries vulnerable to climate change, especially small-island states expected to be inundated by rising seas. During a visit by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to Barbados in October, she stressed the importance of making financing available for developing nations to adapt to climate change. For developing countries, the cost of countering climate-related hazards like droughts, floods and rising seas stands at $70 billion per year and could rise to as much as $300 billion annually by 2030.

“We have to recognize that if we don’t pause at this stage and settle the financing framework, we’re going to have problems,” Mottley has said.

To help Barbados adapt to the climate crisis, Mottley has spearheaded a national resilience programme dubbed Roofs to Reefs. The initiative will include the use of innovative financial tools to scale up public spending on everything from reinforcing homes to restoring coral reefs, which help protect coastlines from storms. Roofs to Reefs has been hailed as a model for other countries under siege from climate change.

Mottley is also the co-chair of the Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance, leading an international effort to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) - a major threat to the environment, human health and economic development. AMR is the ability of organisms to resist the action of pharmaceutical drugs used to treat illnesses in humans and animals. Misuse and overuse of antimicrobials, including antibiotics, can exacerbate climate change, nature and biodiversity loss and pollution and waste.

As the world continues to recover from the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, Mottley has stressed that a green recovery is critical to the fiscal survival of her tourism-dependent country and warned that continuing business as usual would accelerate the climate crisis.

“I think that the combination of the pandemic and the climate crisis has presented a perfect political moment for human beings to pause and really examine what it is we are doing,” she said. “What I really, really want in this world is for us to be able to have a sense of responsibility towards our environment, but also to the future generations.”

The United Nations Environment Programme’s Champions of the Earth and the Young Champions of the Earth recognize individuals, groups and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. Presented annually, the Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour.

The United Nations General Assembly has declared the years 2021 through 2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations together with the support of partners, it is designed to prevent, halt, and reverse the loss and degradation of ecosystems worldwide. It aims at reviving billions of hectares, covering terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems. A global call to action, the UN Decade draws together political support, scientific research, and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration. Visit www.decadeonrestoration.org to learn more.

• The United Nations’ highest environmental award honours this year a prime minister, a scientist, indigenous women, and an entrepreneur for their transformative impact on the environment
• These Champions of the Earth inspire, defend, mobilise and act to tackle the greatest environmental challenges of our time, including ecosystem protection and restoration
• This year’s award recognises laureates in the four categories of Inspiration and Action, Policy Leadership, Entrepreneurial Vision, and Science and Innovation.

Nairobi, 7 December 2021 – The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) today announced its 2021 Champions of the Earth. The Champions were chosen for their transformative impact on the environment and their leadership in advancing bold and decisive action on behalf of people and the planet.

Since its inception in 2005, the annual Champions of the Earth award, the UN’s highest environmental honour, has been awarded to some of the world’s most dynamic environmental leaders. So far, it has been awarded to 101 laureates, including 25 world leaders, 62 individuals and 14 organizations. This year, UNEP received a record number of nominations from all over the world.

“As we enter into a decisive decade, to cut emissions and protect and restore ecosystems, UNEP’s Champions of the Earth demonstrate that all of us can contribute. Every single act for nature counts. The entire spectrum of humanity has both a global responsibility and a profound opportunity,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “This year’s Champions are women who not only inspire us, but also remind us that we have in our hands the solutions, the knowledge and the technology to limit climate change and avoid ecological collapse.”

UNEP’s 2021 Champions of the Earth are:

• Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, honoured in the Policy Leadership category for her powerful voice for a sustainable world from the global south, consistently raises the alarm about the vulnerability of Small Island Developing States due to the climate emergency. The Prime Minister is a driving force for climate action across the Latin American and the Caribbean region – the first to agree on the Action Plan for the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. Under her leadership, Barbados has adopted ambitious renewable energy targets, committing to a fossil-fuel free electricity sector and transport by 2030. At the same time, Barbados is implementing numerous conservation and restoration projects, from forests, through cities, to the coastline and the ocean. She also co-chairs the One Health Global Leaders' Group on Antimicrobial Resistance.
• The Sea Women of Melanesia (Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands), honoured in the Inspiration and Action category, train local women to monitor and assess the impacts of widespread coral bleaching on some of the world's most endangered reefs using marine science and technology.
• Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka (Uganda), honoured in the Science and Innovation category, was the first-ever wildlife veterinarian of the Uganda Wildlife Authority, and is a recognised world authority on primates and zoonotic diseases. As the founder and CEO of Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH), she leads the implementation of three integrated strategic programs using the ‘One Health’ approach.
• Maria Kolesnikova (Kyrgyz Republic), honoured in the Entrepreneurial Vision category, is an environmental activist, youth advocate and head of MoveGreen, an organization working to monitor and improve air quality in Central Asia.  Under Kolesnikova, MoveGreen developed an app called AQ.kg, which collects data every 20 minutes from the two largest Kyrgyz cities, Bishkek and Osh, about the concentration of pollutants in the air, including PM2.5, and PM10 and nitrogen dioxide.

By amplifying the significant work being done on the environmental frontlines, the Champions of the Earth awards aim to inspire and motivate more people to take to address the triple planetary crisis -- climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution, chemicals and waste.

This year’s awards highlight the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which runs until 2030, coinciding with the deadline for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. By halting and reversing the degradation of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, we can prevent the loss of one million endangered species. Scientists say restoring only 15 per cent of ecosystems in priority areas and thereby improving habitats can cut extinctions by 60 per cent.

There has never been a more urgent need to revive damaged ecosystems than now. Ecosystems support all life on Earth. The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier the planet - and its people. Ecosystem restoration will only succeed if everyone joins the #GenerationRestoration movement to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About the UNEP Champions of the Earth The UN Environment Programme’s Champions of the Earth honours individuals, groups, and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. The annual Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour. It recognizes outstanding leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector.

About the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration The United Nations General Assembly has declared the years 2021 through 2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations together with the support of partners, it is designed to prevent, halt, and reverse the loss and degradation of ecosystems worldwide. It aims at reviving billions of hectares, covering terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems. A global call to action, the UN Decade draws together political support, scientific research, and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration.

UNEP@50: A time to reflect on the past and envision the future The 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden, was the first-ever UN conference with the word “environment” in its title. The creation of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) was one of the most visible outcomes of this conference of many firsts. UNEP was created quite simply to be the environmental conscience of the UN and the world. Activities taking place through 2022 will look at significant progress made as well as what’s ahead in decades to come

About the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.

For more information, please contact:Moses Osani, Communication Officer, UN Environment Programme

Next month, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will announce the award of the United Nations’ top environmental honour to the 2021 Champions of the Earth.

But before the 2021 Champions are unveiled, three past winners took centre stage in Glasgow at COP 26.

Vidyut Mohan, Gator Halpern and the state of Costa Rica have won the inaugural Earthshot Prize from the Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, which was supported in part by UNEP through the Global Alliance.

With 750 nominations received from around the world, through a prestigious crop of nominators including UNEP, an expert advisory panel selected 15 finalists from 14 countries. Three of the five winners selected in the inaugural group for the £1 million prize to continue their work were former UNEP Champions and Young Champions.

“It gives UNEP great pride to see past winners of the Champions and Young Champions of the Earth award recognized yet again for their commitment to creating a greener, more sustainable future,” UNEP Deputy Director Joyce Msuya said. “Their commitment to addressing environmental challenges through innovation is inspiring others to be environmental changemakers in their own communities.”

Vidyut Mohan was included among the 2020 Young Champions for his company Takachar. Since 2018, the firm has bought rice husks, straw and coconut shells from over 4,500 farmers in a social enterprise that encourages farmers to limit open burning of their waste farm residue and earn extra income by converting that residue into value-added products. The on-site conversion process means that farmers can transform waste into chemicals like activated carbon, charcoal and fertilizer.

Halpern, a Young Champion from 2018, represented Latin America. As the co-founder of Coral Vita, Halpern opened the world’s first land-based commercial coral farm seeking to restore the dying coral reefs that sustain marine life and serve as a filter for the world’s oceans. Coral Vita is using cutting-edge micro-fragmenting technology, which accelerates coral growth by 50 times their normal rates, speeding up reef restoration over months instead of decades.

Costa Rica, which took home a Champion of the Earth award for Policy Leadership in 2019, was honoured by the Earthshot committee for its commitment to protecting nature and demonstrating that environmentalism and economic development can go hand-in-hand. More than 95 percent of Costa Rica’s energy is renewable, and the Central American country has also reversed decades of deforestation.

UNEP’s 2021 Champions of the Earth will be announced in December. As in years past, the rigorous selection process for this year’s winners was done by a panel of environmental experts. Each of the nominees was expected to demonstrate through their work that collective action is the only way we can meet the multiplying threats to the planet, including climate change, pollution and species loss.

Since their inception in 2005, the annual awards have honoured the world’s most dynamic environmental leaders, from pioneering scientists to community activists to heads of state.

In announcing the call for nominations in January 2021, UNEP echoed a warning from UN Secretary-General António Guterres that humanity is waging war against nature. “Without bold action, ecosystems will erode, air and water pollution will continue to cripple human health, and millions of species risk extinction,” he said.

“The worsening impacts of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, pollution and waste can no longer be ignored,” said Msuya. “That’s why the Champions of the Earth are so important. They show us that a better way, a more sustainable way, is possible.”

The UN Environment Programme’s Champions of the Earth and the Young Champions of the Earth honour individuals, groups and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. Handed out annually, the Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour. The laureates will be announced in December 2021.

The United Nations General Assembly has declared the years 2021 through 2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations together with the support of partners, it is designed to prevent, halt, and reverse the loss and degradation of ecosystems worldwide. It aims at reviving billions of hectares, covering terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems. A global call to action, the UN Decade draws together political support, scientific research, and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration. Visit www.decadeonrestoration.org to learn more.

Nemonte Nenquimo has spent years fending off miners, loggers and oil companies intent on developing the Amazon rainforest.

The leader of Ecuador's indigenous Waorani people, she famously fronted a 2019 lawsuit that banned resource extraction on 500,000 acres of her ancestral lands — a court win that gave hope to indigenous communities around the world.

But Nenquimo, a 2020 United Nations Champion of the Earth, isn't only hoping to save the Waorani. By protecting the Amazon, an important store of greenhouse gases, she’s hoping to save the planet.

“If we allow the Amazon to be destroyed… that affects us as indigenous peoples, but it will also affect everyone because of climate change,” says Nenquimo. “The struggle we do is for all humanity.”

On the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, experts say governments must learn from the environmental examples set by indigenous communities, some of which have lived in harmony with nature for thousands of years. Otherwise, we risk accelerating the triple planetary crisis the world faces of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.

"Biodiversity loss and climate change, in combination with the unsustainable management of resources, are pushing natural spaces around the world, from forests to rivers to savannahs, to the breaking point,” says Siham Drissi, Biodiversity and Land Management Programme Officer with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “We absolutely need to protect, preserve and promote the traditional knowledge, customary sustainable use and expertise of indigenous communities if we want to halt the damage we’re doing – and ultimately save ourselves.”

An ailing Earth

The planet is home to more than 476 million indigenous people living in 90 countries. Together, they own, manage or occupy about one-quarter of the world’s land. It is territory that has fared far better than most of the rest of the Earth.

A landmark 2019 report from the United Nations-backed Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) found that the natural world is declining at a pace unprecedented in human history. Some three-quarters of the planet’s dry land has been “significantly altered” by human actions, which has imperiled crucial ecosystems, including forests, savannahs and oceans while pushing 1 million species towards extinction.

While environmental decline is accelerating in many indigenous communities, it has been “less severe” than in other parts of the world, the report found.

Experts say that is due in part to centuries of traditional knowledge and, in many communities, a prevailing view that nature is sacred. This knowledge, “encompasses practical ways to ensure the balance of the environment in which we live, so it may continue to provide essential services such as water, fertile soil, food, shelter and medicines,” says Drissi.

Conservation leaders

In many parts of the world, indigenous communities are at the forefront of conservation, according to a recent report supported in part by UNEP. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Bambuti-Babuluko community is helping to protect one of Central Africa’s last remaining tracts of primary tropical forest. In Iran, the semi-nomadic Chahdegal Balouch oversee 580,000 hectares of fragile scrubland and desert. And in Canada’s far north, Inuit leaders are working to restore caribou herds, whose numbers had been in steep decline.

Including indigenous peoples and local communities in environmental governance and drawing from their knowledge enhances their quality of life. It also improves conservation, restoration, and the sustainable use of nature, which benefits society at large.

Indigenous groups are often better placed than scientists to provide information on local biodiversity and environmental change, and are important contributors to the governance of biodiversity at local and global levels, the IPBES report noted.

Despite that, indigenous groups often see their land exploited and dispossessed and struggle to have a say in what happens in their territories.

“Governments need to recognize that cultural heritage and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities significantly contribute to conservation and can enhance national and global action on climate change,” says Drissi.

A key part of that process, she added, is recognizing indigenous land claims and embracing traditional ways of managing land.

Mounting threats

Because their lives are often intimately tied to the land, indigenous communities have been among the first to face the fallout from climate change. From the Kalahari Desert to the Himalaya Mountains to the Amazon Rainforest, droughts, floods and fires have beset communities already struggling with poverty and incursions onto their land. That makes it all the more imperative for the outside world to acknowledge the rights and practices of indigenous communities, said Nenquimo.

“The extractivists, the capitalists, the government – they say indigenous people are ignorant,” she says. “We, the indigenous people, know why climate change is happening… [humanity is] damaging and destroying our planet. As indigenous people, we must unite in a single objective: that we demand that they respect us.”

The International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is celebrated globally on 9 August. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples requires that free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples be obtained in matters of fundamental importance for their rights, survival, dignity, and well-being. Marking the start of the UN Decade for Ecosystems Restoration (2021-2030), UNEP is working with the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to publish work on traditional knowledge for ecosystems restoration and resilience. UNEP has also established a policy to promote the protection of environmental defenders, and engages religious leaders and communities to work with the indigenous peoples to advocate for sound forest policies and the protection of the rights of its guardians through the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative.