Climate change is the defining issue of our age. While nations search for complex technological solutions at this year’s high-stakes climate meeting in the Amazon city of Belém, a simpler yet powerful answer has been waiting in the wings. I saw it firsthand in the forests of West Papua’s Bird’s Head Peninsula in the company of Indigenous youth from the Amazon, the Congo Basin, and Borneo. They showed me a truth that the world has been overlooking: one of the most effective climate solutions lies in empowering Indigenous people. In this way, we can prevent an immense amount of carbon emissions from deforestation and preserve priceless biodiversity and all the benefits we reap from it. It’s a strategy that more than pays for itself. A recent Forest Defender Camp at Sira village in Southwest Papua featured 89 delegates ranging from Papuan Indigenous youths from 7 customary areas to Indigenous representatives from communities in the Congo Basin, the Amazon, and Borneo. Image courtesy of Greenpeace. The first piece of good news is that it is simple. The rest of the good news is that we can put it into practice right now, and that it needn’t cost too much. Ending fossil fuels, transforming global food systems – these are essential but they’re expensive and they take time. They often require re-skilling whole workforces. While that hard and slow work is underway, Indonesia can score an immediate goal by finally enacting the Indigenous Peoples Bill, and by providing Indigenous communities access to…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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