E/2026/43 E/C.19/2026/6 Interregional, intergenerational and global dialogue (item 5 (e)) 4. The Permanent Forum expresses its profound appreciation to the Governor General of Canada, Mary Simon, for her presence and her address at the opening session. 5. The Permanent Forum, during its twenty-fifth session, held an interregional, intergenerational and global dialogue on the theme “Indigenous Peoples and climate change: articles 3, 4, 25 and 26 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”. 6. The Permanent Forum notes that Indigenous Peoples continue to bear disproportionately the often irreversible impacts of climate change on their lands, territories, water, livelihoods, cultures and health, despite contributing the least to global greenhouse gas emissions, and that climate change constitutes not a future risk but a current and ongoing human rights crisis for Indigenous Peoples. 7. The Permanent Forum welcomes the advisory opinions on climate change issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice in July 2025, which build on the advisory opinion of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea of 2024, and recognizes them as authoritative interpretations of binding international law affirming Indigenous Peoples’ essential role as rights holders and knowledge holders in climate governance. The Forum notes that the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights will be developing a corresponding opinion. 8. The Permanent Forum notes with concern that the energy transition and the growing demand for critical minerals are generating a new wave of extractive pressure, with more than half of energy transition mineral projects located on or near the lands and territories of Indigenous Peoples, and a significant proportion situated in conflict‑affected areas or within fragile contexts. 9. The Permanent Forum notes with deep concern the situation of Indigenous Peoples in isolation, voluntary isolation and initial contact in the Amazon, the Gran Chaco and other regions and countries, while acknowledging the advances made in Ecuador in constitutional frameworks for the rights of nature. 10. The Permanent Forum is deeply concerned about environmental degradation caused by extractive and emerging market-based mechanisms, including carbon finance and carbon markets, where activities are often undertaken without free, prior and informed consent, contrary to article 32 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Such developments risk undermining Indigenous Peoples’ rights to lands, territories and resources, and are closely linked to deteriorating physical and mental health conditions and the erosion of traditional livelihoods. 11. The Permanent Forum notes that the health, cultural and territorial impacts of climate change and extractive industries on Indigenous Peoples are severe and documented across all regions. Indigenous Peoples in Central and South America and the Caribbean reported river contamination harming Indigenous women and children, deterioration of Indigenous medicine systems and mineral extraction without consent; in Africa, Indigenous Peoples reported displacement and threats to food security; in the Arctic, Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia, Asia, and the Pacific, they reported mineral extraction without consent and accelerated climate impacts causing displacement, loss of livelihoods and erosion of Indigenous knowledge; and in North America, they reported non-implementation of obligations in international treaties with Indigenous Peoples and large-scale lithium extraction without their free, prior and informed consent. Across all regions, national 26-06676 5/24