FINAL VERSION – April 27, 2026
Santa Marta, Colombia

“Indigenous Peoples are rights-holders, self-governing Peoples, and guardians of our
territories and Mother Earth. Without the right to self-determination, Free, Prior and
Informed Consent, and the legal protection and security of our territories, lands and
waters, there is no climate, environmental and economic justice. The Just Transition
recognizes that humans are inseparable from Earth and nature. The Just Transition and
phase out of fossil fuels must be built with us or it will not be just.”

A Just Transition is grounded in the effective respect of our right to self-determination and
must be based on the guarantee of our internationally recognized inherent and distinct
collective rights over our territories, land and waters. It is not limited to the substitution of
energy sources; it must not reproduce forms of colonialism and extractivism such as those
that characterize fossil fuel exploitation, nor contribute to armed conflict or promote the
militarization of Indigenous Peoples’ territories.

For Indigenous Peoples of the world, respect for our right to Free, Prior and Informed
Consent, our own governance systems, cosmovision, spirituality, and our full, effective,
inclusive, gender-responsive, intergenerational participation and representation in
decision-making; respect for our knowledge systems, sciences, governance, practices, and
our own and regenerative economies, Indigenous jurisprudence, customary rights; and the
legal protection of our territories, lands, and waters, are indispensable for a true Just
Transition.

Furthermore, a Just Transition must guarantee respect for the rights of Indigenous Peoples
in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI), as well as the Principle of No Contact that
applies to them. It must also ensure the protection, safety, and non-criminalization of
Indigenous defenders.

Download the complete Declaration below.