Orchestration in Global Adaptation Governance: the case of Indigenous Peoples

The 2015 Paris Agreement represents a shift in various aspects, including the mainstreaming of climate change adaptation as a global governance issue. According to the literature investigating global adaptation governance, this burgeoning field requires broader knowledge concerning how and with what implications traditional actors (states and IOs) engage with and steer non-state actors’ participation. This chapter then maps how IOs orchestrate the adaptation of indigenous peoples and enquires into the consequences of orchestration. The analysis deems the interplay between adaptation and non-state actors’ participation as essential to operationalising actions with better-informed and justice-led approaches. I elaborate on why the specific participation of indigenous peoples is critical to advance those actions. I build upon orchestration literature (also an emerging field in IR) to answer the research questions guiding this chapter: a) What are the mechanisms and actors through which IOs orchestrate indigenous peoples’ adaptation? b) what is the role of participation in the orchestration of climate adaptation of indigenous peoples? c) what are the challenges that orchestration needs to consider in addition to endorsing participation? The chapter discusses two relevant mechanisms to bolster indigenous peoples’ adaptation and participation - funding and orchestration of representatives -, which are employed to uncover the actors participating in the orchestration of indigenous peoples. This research provides the groundwork to discuss further challenges of global adaptation governance, such as: consolidating legitimacy; strengthening effective representation and promoting justice.