Takeaways: IIPWG April 2026 Newsletter
Items excerpted from the April 2026 Investors & Indigenous Peoples Working Group (IIPWG) Newsletter. IIPWG strategy calls take place the third Thursday of the month. Learn more.
Recommendations to Strengthen Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in IFC Standards
Indigenous-led organizations provided key recommendations to strengthen Indigenous Peoples’ rights in the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Sustainability Framework and Performance Standards. Among them are to clarify FPIC as a substantive safeguard, establish clear pause and no-go triggers, strengthen protection of customary land systems, and to close gaps between the standards.
“Projects can meet procedural requirements [using IFC standards] while fundamental issues such as land rights, representation, consent, and power imbalances, remain unresolved. When this occurs, risks are not reduced; they are deferred. Over time they often re-emerge as conflict, project delay, community grievance, reputational harm, and long-term instability, particularly where underlying disputes or inequalities remain unaddressed,” says the letter. A prior submission requested the IFC formalize a dedicated consultation process for Indigenous Peoples and form an Indigenous advisory group.
The IFC will open public consultation in 2026 with updated standards expected in 2028.
Native Lands Under Threat amidst Protections Rollbacks
Several development projects with potential impacts to Native lands and resources are moving forward after the U.S. began rollbacks of federal protections:
The U.S. announced June 5 as the first oil and gas lease sale of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge under a new law; see the Gwich’in Steering Committee statement in response.
$164 million in leases were sold covering 1.3 million acres of land in NPR-A to ConocoPhillips [NYSE: COP], Shell [NYSE: SHEL], and Exxon Mobil Corp [NYSE: XOM], among others.
A rushed and “inaccessible” public comment period was held to reverse a 2023 ban on mining and drilling around Chaco Canyon, which holds cultural and spiritual significance for many Tribes and Pueblo Nations; 70,000 comments were received in seven days.
A lawsuit was filed after the U.S. Forest Service approved a graphite drilling project near Pe’ Sla, a sacred site in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
The Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians asked for review of a ruling that upheld construction permits of the contested Enbridge [NYSE: ENB] Line 5 oil pipeline reroute.
The Indian Peaks Band filed a lawsuit to protect Tribal water rights, challenging the Bureau of Land Management approval of the Pine Valley Water Supply Project.
Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and CMSI Consultation Summary Report
The Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI) published a summary report from its final public consultation. Performance Area 14 (PA14) on Indigenous Peoples received 221 comments – the most comments among all performance areas (see pgs. 76-79 for PA14 summary feedback). Among feedback, some respondents recommended that “consent with the right to give, withhold, or withdraw at any time” be specified in PA14 and called for explicit stipulations that operations be paused when Indigenous Peoples’ FPIC is not obtained. Other feedback focused on capacity support for Indigenous Peoples, culturally relevant engagement, and more. Out of 120 respondents, 3 investors submitted feedback.
2026 UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
The Twenty-Fifth Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) takes place in New York City through May 1 under the theme “Ensuring Indigenous Peoples’ health, including in the context of conflict.” IIPWG participants may find external side events here.
The Indigenous News Alliance via Grist is providing full coverage of the Session. Initial reports include:
War, climate change, and AI on the agenda at this year’s U.N. Indigenous forum
Indigenous land defenders are being killed, AI is scraping their knowledge
At the UN, Indigenous leaders tackle how to enforce global climate court rulings
Indigenous health can’t be separated from environmental health, leaders tell UN