Background 

Activity 1, under the second three-year workplan of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP), is mandated to “organize annual meetings in conjunction with the sessions of the COP, with the participation of Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous knowledge holders , to expand and enhance inclusion of traditional knowledge, knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and local knowledge systems in addressing and responding to climate change, consistently with rights-based international safeguards and Indigenous Peoples’ cultural protocols”. 

This activity falls under LCIPP’s knowledge function to “promote the exchange of experience and best practices with a view to applying, strengthening, protecting and preserving traditional knowledge, knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and local knowledge systems, as well as technologies, practices and efforts of local communities and Indigenous Peoples related to addressing and responding to climate change, taking into account the free, prior and informed consent of the holders of such knowledge, innovations, and practices”. 

Annual gatherings of the LCIPP bring together knowledge holders to share and promote adaptation actions that are based on and guided by the best available science, including traditional knowledge, knowledge of Indigenous Peoples, and local knowledge systems in accordance with Article 7 of the Paris Agreement. 

Objectives

The annual gathering of knowledge holders will:

• Expand and enhance the inclusion of diverse knowledge systems in the design and implementation of climate policies and actions under and outside the Convention, through the direct participation of Indigenous knowledge holders, and local knowledge systems; 
• Build the engagement of Indigenous youth, women, children, persons with disabilities, and local communities in all levels and aspects of climate policies and actions in the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build climate resilience;
• Facilitate intergenerational knowledge sharing between Indigenous and local knowledge holders from across the seven UN socio-cultural regions.
• Be of benefit to Parties, UN bodies, and other relevant stakeholders by sharing good practices of local communities, and practices, perspectives, and rights of Indigenous Peoples. This includes practices in climate knowledge syntheses which include Indigenous, traditional, and local knowledge systems with FPIC. The annual gathering will also enable sharing of good practices and guidance to inform climate policies and actions]
• Be of benefit to knowledge holders through intergenerational and inter-regional knowledge sharing during the first part of the meeting, while utilizing the second part of the meeting to share best practices for the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge and local knowledge systems in addressing and responding to climate change

Thematic Focus: The thematic focus for this year’s gathering will be Water -Energy -Food Nexus

Approach

The LCIPP annual gathering will be designed to feature two sessions:

• Part I: Exchange amongst knowledge holders (Coordination Meeting)

Intergenerational and Cross-regional Knowledge-sharing

The first part of the gathering will serve as a coordination meeting amongst Indigenous knowledge holders, including youth, focused on intergenerational and cross-regional knowledge-sharing and development of recommendations based on Indigenous knowledge and local knowledge, methods, lived experiences, and practices, and discussion about how and what information and recommendations will be shared in part two.