Climate & Conflict: Local knowledge works

"The worldview of Indigenous peoples is like this: we defend what is ours and we do not destroy our land because that would be destroying ourselves. It is something that I carry deep inside me." - Yanesha leader from Nuevo Antonio community in the Central Peruvian Amazon 

Indigenous Peruvian women like this Yanesha leader inspired “Biodiversity’s sisters: The essential role and challenges of Indigenous women in biodiversity strategy processes,” published by CDA in Spanish and English in February 2025. 

The uptake has been inspiring, informing community work in Peru and global policy preparations.  

It’s also catalyzing new CDA research, this time with Indigenous groups across the Amazon Basin who are so essential to forging peaceful climate futures. 

With your support to the “Climate & Conflict in Peru: Local knowledge works” campaign, CDA is: 

• Translating lessons from Peru for global reach. Within Peru, “Biodiversity’s Sisters” is equipping NGOs like Futuro Sostenible with practical insights for local policy implementation. At the international policy level, the resource is informing a consortium of peacebuilding organizations as they prepare for this year’s historic United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Brazil. And for CDA, the study directly contributes to the design of tools for practical action wherever climate change and conflict intersect.

• Curious about Indigenous ways of knowing for climate and conflict. Learning with Peruvian women brought to the surface how differently Indigenous peoples think about concepts of “peace” and “conflict”, compared with the people designing most environmental policy processes. This matters a great deal for effective, equitable collaborations on complex issues, like land or water use, that are impacted by both climate change and conflict dynamics. 

• Forging new learning partnerships across the Amazon Basin. CDA invited the Rights and Resources Initiative, a global Indigenous network, to team up on a series of listening exercises. From Peru to Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia we are actively learning about how to bridge Indigenous ways of knowing and environmental policy processes. The lessons will be used by RRI and global partners in the coming years, a timeframe that will be so crucial for both peace and our shared environment.  

Your support is equipping practical learning with people at the center of today’s biggest challenges! We would love to hear your thoughts and ideas as the journey continues. Thank you!

Links:

• Biodiversity's Sisters paper - in Spanish and English
• What CDA is learning: addressing climate and conflict, together
• CDA's 30-year impact story