A/HRC/51/28 57. Many indigenous women are experienced decision-makers who have honed their management skills over generations of family and community leadership. Indigenous women’s right to self-determination will not be fully realized until they achieve full political participation. Indigenous women should be welcomed into political and social spaces from which they have previously been excluded so that their scientific knowledge can be applied to development and decision-making processes concerning issues that directly impact them. 58. Inuit matriarchs oversee the protection of the community, teach values, prepare food, hold knowledge of the seasons and medicines and health practices, and supervise the daily lives of community members. The matriarchal Garifuna society in Honduras looks to women as decision makers for the future of the communities, and in Mexico, indigenous women hold important positions as leaders and protectors of food security and security of land tenure and resources.52 59. The Australian Human Rights Commission notes that: “Prior to the imposition of western patriarchal structures that force gendered hierarchies, women’s knowledges were of equal worth and importance to those of men.”53 VI. Current threats to indigenous women’s knowledge A. Loss of lands, territories and resources 60. Indigenous women steward nature under tenuous conditions, often with limited access to and control over lands and resources. Loss of their scientific knowledge occurs as they are driven from their lands owing to climate change, the creation of protected areas, extractive projects, violent conflict and economic migration.54 Land is critical to the development and preservation of deep-rooted practices related to farming, food production and medicine. As the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has observed, loss of land and restricted access to resources makes “it increasingly difficult for them to practise and maintain their indigenous knowledge systems”.55 61. Indigenous women are disproportionately impacted by the ecological, economic and spiritual effects of extractive industries on their lands. Their knowledge is devalued when the natural resources they steward are exploited without their free, prior and informed consent. Loss of access to and ownership of lands causes disempowers indigenous women, deprives them of their community roles and occupations, and threatens their ability to maintain and transmit their scientific and technical knowledge. 62. Climate change gives new urgency to the recovery and preservation of indigenous women’s scientific knowledge as they are disproportionately impacted by its effects, including drought, desertification, flooding, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, changes to vegetation and animal populations, and the general degradation of agricultural lands and natural resources. Worldwide, this means that women have less access to natural resources, endangering their way of life. 63. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has expressed concern that existing climate change policies and regulations might lead to access to territories being limited, the substitution of traditional livelihoods, reduced genetic diversity and harvesting opportunities and loss of transmission of indigenous knowledge, which in turn may limit the effects of climate change adaptation measures in many regions. In 2019, the Intergovernmental Panel emphasized the crucial role played by indigenous peoples in preserving ecosystems and preventing deforestation, which are key to combating climate change. 56 Nevertheless, the 52 53 54 55 56 Submission by the Government of Mexico. Submission by the Australian Human Rights Commission. See A/HRC/45/34/Add.3. E/C.19/2014/2, para. 33. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability – Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects (2014), ch. 7. See also Climate Change and Land: an IPCC Special Report on Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation, Sustainable Land Management, Food Security, and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Terrestrial Ecosystems (2019). 13