Responsibility-based philosophies of Indigenous Peoples from across the continent support the development of climate-change adaptation and mitigation strategies that promote responsible and respectful relationships with the environment over the long term. Adapting to change, in all its forms, has since time immemorial been one of the defining characteristics of Indigenous cultures on Turtle Island . In Yucatan, one Elder explained that with regards to climate-change impacts in the region, the Maya have always dealt with k'ech, or change, and that accepting and responding to change is part of the Maya identity and responsibility . Given successive failures in adequately and effectively responding to climate change, it has become urgent for the rest of the human collective to learn from Indigenous cultures to consider our responsibility/ies to the land-the world over-and to reorient our societal imperatives to better respond and react to change. Such a process of learning from IK could foster the development of climate- change policies that promote responsible and respectful relationships with the environment over the long term, and prove to be more effective and holistic. Although most inhabitants of North America are non-Indigenous, it is possible and beneficial for our societies to learn to think and act in a more responsibility-based way about our relations to the land, and, by extension, about climate-change policy. A collective commitment to protecting and advancing Indigenous territorial rights, so Indigenous Peoples can continue to reassert their spiritual duty and role as stewards of their traditional territories, benefits all human and other-than-human 'Peoples'.
IPCC
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC Report