ABSTRACT
Indigenous Peoples, for decades, have advocated that their leadership and roles be elevated within national and multilateral environmental science assessments, such as the U.S. National Climate Assessment and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Historically, Indigenous Knowledge holders and Indigenous scientists have been largely excluded from meaningful participation in assessment processes. We argue that Indigenous Peoples, both as individuals and as self-governing societies, ought to be equal participants and leaders in environmental science assessments sponsored by nations, both unilaterally and multilaterally. Additionally, we argue that Indigenous Peoples should have the freedom and support to organize and publish their own environmental science assessments using methods that arise from their communities’ questions, knowledge systems, and social situations.
Readers may be interested in these Handbook chapters as well: Jacalyn M. Beck, et al., “The Power of Value-Laden Framing: Examples from Wildlife Conservation Research”; Ahmad Elabbar, “Values and Assessment Reports on Climate Change”; Greg Lusk, “Philosophical Approaches to Values in Climate Science”; Daniel Steel, “Tragedy or Transition? How Science and Values Matter for Climate Change Frames.”
