Host Organisation

Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP)

Outline

In Asia, Indigenous Youth are already leading climate action on their lands and territories, yet they remain largely absent from the decisions, data and finance that shape climate responses. At the 6th Indigenous Knowledge and Peoples of Asia (IKPA) Conference in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, from 29 August to 2 September 2026, the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) and Asia Indigenous Youth Platform (AIYP) brought together over 100 Indigenous Youth from the Mekong, South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, including Indigenous Women, Indigenous Persons with Disabilities and Indigenous Persons with Diverse Sexual Orientations, Gender Identities and Expressions and Sex Characteristics. They shared their lived realities, knowledge, challenges and achievements, and their vision for the future of their Peoples, lands, territories and resources. From this gathering, Indigenous Youth drafted and adopted the Hugu Declaration. “Hugu” means “foundation” in the language of the Dusun Indigenous community of Sabah. Building on earlier IKPA outcomes, including the Tano Batak Declaration (2025), the Declaration sets out the achievements of the Indigenous Youth movement, its commitments to collective action, and specific demands to governments, donors and funders, UN bodies, NGOs, conservation organisations and the media. Its message is clear: Indigenous Youth are not the leaders of tomorrow but the leaders of today, and they seek to take part in climate decisions as rightsholders and decision-makers, not as stakeholders or beneficiaries. Why this matters at COP31 The COP31 Presidency has framed Antalya as a shift from ambition to implementation. The Hugu Declaration speaks directly to that shift and to the decisions Parties will take: • Just transition: Indigenous Youth report that energy-transition, extractive and mega-infrastructure projects are expanding onto ancestral lands without Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). The Declaration calls for an automatic freeze on such projects where FPIC is not respected, and for impact assessments to be shared with communities before projects are planned. This is directly relevant as Parties work to operationalise the just transition mechanism agreed in Belém, whose text refers to Indigenous Peoples’ rights and FPIC. • Adaptation and data: Indigenous communities bear the brunt of climate disasters yet remain excluded from adaptation and disaster resilience mechanisms. The Declaration’s call for data disaggregated by Indigenous identity, age, gender and disability, governed by Indigenous data sovereignty, speaks to the ongoing work on Global Goal on Adaptation indicators and to National Adaptation Plans. • NDCs and Rio synergies: Indigenous Youth already engage in NDC, NAP and NBSAP processes. The Declaration shows how recognising customary law and practices such as rotational agriculture, community forestry, fire management and forest monitoring delivers climate and biodiversity outcomes together, in line with the Presidency’s Rio Synergies priority. • Finance: The Declaration calls for direct, flexible, multi-year funding for Indigenous Youth-led initiatives and simpler grant procedures. This is a practical test for the commitment to triple adaptation finance and for direct-access windows in climate funds. • Youth and education: The call to decolonise education and integrate the Knowledge of Indigenous Peoples into curricula complements the Presidency’s Youth and Education priority and its aim of climate action education for all by 2035. • Rights and participation: The Declaration reaffirms that Indigenous Peoples are distinct rightsholders under UNDRIP and asks that “Indigenous Peoples” and “local communities” be referred to separately in climate decisions and funds. It calls for Indigenous Youth to influence negotiations, not only to attend them, and draws attention to the militarisation, criminalisation and red-tagging that young Indigenous defenders face. Objectives • Present the key messages and recommendations of the Hugu Declaration to Parties, UN bodies, funders and Indigenous Peoples’ networks at COP31. • Launch a new AIPP publication featuring five leadership stories of Indigenous Youth from across Asia, showing how youth-led action on lands, territories and resources contributes to mitigation, adaptation and biodiversity. • Open a dialogue between Indigenous Youth and duty-bearers on concrete commitments on just transition, adaptation, finance and participation. Format A youth-led, interactive session: a panel of Indigenous Youth from the four subregions; the launch of the publication; responses from a Party representative and a funder; and an open exchange with participants. The session will close with an invitation to Parties and partners to take forward the Declaration’s recommendations.

Speakers

The session will be moderated by an Indigenous Youth leader and will bring together speakers from South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Mekong and East Asia, with gender balance and the participation of Indigenous Women and Indigenous Persons with Disabilities. Speakers are affiliated with AIPP, national Indigenous Youth federations, the Asia Indigenous Youth Platform (AIYP) and the Network of Indigenous Women in Asia (NIWA). They bring years of experience in self-determination, land rights and climate action at community, national and international levels, including engagement in NDC, NAP and NBSAP processes.

Languages

EN SP