Mexico vindicates the role of indigenous peoples in COP26 negotiations

At COP26, Mexico highlighted that indigenous peoples “have known how to protect and take advantage of their natural resources” by being guardians of their territory.

MEXICO, (November 10, 2021).- Mexico considers that the gender approach, human rights, and the vindication of indigenous peoples are issues that should be in the negotiations at the COP26 summit in Glasgow (Scotland), according to the Secretary for the Environment and Natural Resources, María Luisa Albores.

“The environmental crisis and deep social inequality show us how we have left behind those who need us most, including nature,” said Albores in the plenary of ministers this Wednesday and in the final stretch of this global meeting.

En reunión de Segmento de Alto Nivel de la #COP26, reafirmamos el compromiso de 🇲🇽 de garantizar un medio ambiente sano para tod@s.

Nuestro mensaje es claro: la protección ambiental va de la mano del desarrollo de las comunidades. Primero los pobres y l@s olvidados del mundo. pic.twitter.com/QRq2cmkzpF

— María Luisa Albores González (@Mary_Luisa_AG) November 10, 2021

Albores intervened on behalf of Mexico after President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was one of the great absentees at the leaders’ summit held last week to open COP26.

For Mexico, unlike many things that can be negotiated, placing “people and the sustainable use of natural resources” at the center of the dialogue is “non-negotiable,” said Albores.

That is why, she said, that Mexico has insisted these days that the countries include the aforementioned three issues in the negotiations.

Indigenous peoples or native peoples “have known how to protect and take advantage of their natural resources,” which is why they are the guardians of the territory, explained the Mexican secretary.

Among other things, she mentioned a Mexican program whereby farmers grow trees on their plots in exchange for remuneration, while the use of agrochemicals is being limited.

Mexico, she added, will stop exporting oil in 2024 to produce only what is necessary for internal use.