Indigenous rights must be at the heart of the world’s transition to critical minerals: Commentary

By Nauja Bianco May 13, 2025
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Indigenous Peoples from Alaska to Greenland can help the world tackle two key issues: Climate change and our need for more critical minerals. As I’ll explain, the two are closely linked.

This year’s United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) has just taken place in New York. As a board member of the  International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), I was fortunate to participate in the event.

UNPFII Twenty-fourth Session in New York. Source: UN

The UNPFII is the world’s most important international gathering for Indigenous Peoples, offering a platform for dialogue between governments, the UN system, and Indigenous representatives. It is a space where Indigenous Peoples assert their rights, share their knowledge, and push for accountability.

At the core of these discussions stands the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which sets out minimum standards for survival, dignity, and well-being – including the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). UNDRIP is a global standard that facilitate the shaping of policy, investment, and development on Indigenous land and FPIC is a cornerstone principle about which centers on obtaining consent from Indigenous Peoples for any activities undertaken on their land.

This year’s Forum highlighted one of the most pressing topics of our time: the global energy transition, extraction of critical minerals and the role Indigenous Peoples’ play in this development. From Greenland over Nunavut, Canada, to Alaska, Indigenous homelands hold many of the minerals the world now urgently seeks. The Arctic thus holds part of the solution to the global climate crisis. One of the messages at the UNPFII was that the transition must happen in alignment with Indigenous peoples’ rights and cultures.

    In April 2024 the UN Secretary-General set down a high-level panel on critical energy transition minerals which launched its report in September 2024. This was driven by seven guiding principles on how the world must proceed with regards to critical energy transition minerals and Indigenous Peoples. It also recognizes UNDRIP and reaffirms that Indigenous Peoples must be included in decisions affecting their territories and lives.

    Human rights, environmental integrity, benefit-sharing, and transparency are at the core of the report, and is also a clear focal area for Indigenous Peoples which was clear at the session at UNPFII. To secure a just transition, Indigenous Peoples cannot just be an afterthought. It means partnership, mutual respect, and shared prosperity.

    This global conversation comes at a crucial time for the Arctic. As the Kingdom of Denmark – encompassing Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and Denmark – prepares to take over the chairship of the Arctic Council, Indigenous Peoples and communities are placed firmly as one of five pillars of the chairship’s priorities.

    The chairship’s program outlines a clear commitment to ensure that Indigenous Peoples are not only consulted, but meaningfully included in decision-making; that their knowledge systems are valued alongside science; and that sustainable economic development, including in mining, must benefit Arctic communities first and foremost. Something that is already in place in the Greenlandic mining legislation. With strong integration of Indigenous Knowledge and a focus on youth, health, and empowerment, the chairship can set the tone for a more just and inclusive Arctic future.

    There’s reason to be optimistic and there’s work to do. Optimism, because Indigenous voices are taking center stage in global conversations about the green transition. Work to do in the sense that we need to bridge indigenous voices with corporate undertakings to reach embedded decision-making processes. The message from the UNPFII on this matter was clear: Anything less would not be a transition – it would be history repeating itself.

    Nauja Bianco is a former diplomat and an Inuk with roots in Greenland. She currently lives in Denmark, working as a consultant on Arctic and Indigenous affairs. She is a board member of the International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) – a human rights NGO working to advance indigenous peoples’ rights – as well as a board member of the Canadian mining company Greenland Resources Inc.

    Useful links:

    The UN Secretary-General’s high-level panel on critical energy transition minerals’ report “Resourcing the energy transition”: https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/critical-minerals.

    Greenland Resources Inc.: https://greenlandresources.ca/