Indigenous relationships with natural systems continue to be mediated by cultural orders of governance and legal systems that pre- date, by several millennia, European traditions in North America. Napolean  describes Indigenous legal orders as dynamic and encompassing knowledge that is simultaneously legal, religious, philosophical, social and scientific. Customary Indigenous legal orders  stand in contrast to Eurocentric understandings of law, which are closely related to, and founded on, the Western principles of rights. Indigenous legal orders are based on duties, obligations and responsibilities to the land and all beings, including humans, animals, plants, future generations and the departed/ancestors . Indigenous spiritual laws are centred on the values of responsibility and accountability to the land, and how these differ, in theory and in practice, from Western law, which is based on 'universal' principles, with little consideration for the local environmental context . Research has elucidated these Indigenous understandings about how their land-based responsibilities act as the foundation of how humans must operate according to the land on which they live and depend.
IPCC
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC Report