In November, we joined more than 50,000 Indigenous and world leaders, diplomats, scholars and activists at the 30th United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP30) in Brazil. Some of the most central discussions at “The People’s COP” revolved around the critical role Indigenous leaders and communities are playing in the future of global climate and conservation movements, what we can learn from Indigenous groups as we build increasingly complex technologies to solve environmental problems, and where Indigenous voices can be better amplified and listened to. At COP30, attendees claimed that AI has enormous potential to effectively advance environmental data science to address some of our biggest challenges, including rising pollution, drastic biodiversity loss, worsening natural disasters, and more. At the same time, experts and Indigenous communities continue to raise alarms around AI ethics, privacy concerns and environmental impacts. This raises a critical question: How can we ensure that emerging technologies, including AI, will truly benefit the planet and the people who protect it? Understanding and upholding Indigenous digital sovereignty might be key. Many Indigenous communities embrace the use of drones and other technologies to monitor their territories, as shown by these Yanomami youths, and some are also now investigating the use of ethical artificial intelligence tools to support their cultural and environmental priorities. Image courtesy of Evilene Paixão/HAY. Indigenous digital sovereignty is the right of an Indigenous nation to govern the collection, ownership and application of its own data. Upholding Indigenous digital sovereignty in the environmental and climate fields means…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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