On Wednesday a group of international ministers and delegations worked through the night refining a fresh draft of the text that will form the world’s first global climate treaty.
Major redline issues around the treaty’s long-term target — whether it limits warming to 1.5 or two degrees Celsius — as well as climate finance, loss and damage and transparency kept negotiators up until 6am Paris time as countries worked towards a level of compromise that will not threaten the world’s most vulnerable countries with catastrophic climate impacts.
Yet, among the high-level talks, Canada stepped in to raise another crucial issue: the potential exclusion of indigenous rights from the text of the agreement, expected to be agreed Friday.
Catherine McKenna, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, spoke before a plenary hosted by French President Françoise Hollande late Wednesday night to implore international leaders to make reference to human and indigenous rights in the Paris climate agreement stronger and permanent.
“The agreement must recognize adequately the importance of respecting human rights and the rights of indigenous peoples,” McKenna said.