As the COP26 climate talks neared a close, environmentalists and lawyers warned rules for global carbon markets, due to be finalised in Glasgow, lack protections to stop abuses of the rights of indigenous peoples who rely on forests for survival.

Human rights and green groups, including Amnesty International, Friends of the Earth and the Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL), said the rules being firmed up at COP26 could lead to land being taken from indigenous communities without their consent.

They also pointed to the absence in the draft carbon markets text of an independent mechanism to fairly handle grievances around human rights issues.

Erika Lennon, a senior attorney in CIEL’s climate and energy programme, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that unless those problems were fixed it would be preferable to postpone agreement on the rules, which remain an unresolved part of the 2015 Paris accord.

“I certainly think that not having an agreement here (on carbon markets) is a better outcome and more of a win than pushing through an agreement that doesn’t properly ensure protection for human rights and the rights of indigenous peoples,” Lennon said.

Read the full article about Indigenous rights and climate change by the Thomas Reuters Foundation at Eco-Business.