Protecting Indigenous Peoples’ land rights in global climate governance

The global climate change governance is a top-down approach characterized by the development under the aegis of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), ¹ the Kyoto Protocol ² and the recent Paris Agreement ³ aimed at addressing the challenge posed by climate change. In itself, the top-down approach is not problematic considering that climate change is a global challenge. ⁴ Action is necessary at other levels; however, issues such as the differentiation of responsibilities between developed and developing states, unequal capacity to adapt and mitigate adverse climate effects, and the allocation and transfer of resources make a global governance inevitable and distinct from other levels of climate governance.