From COP25 to COP31: The Voice of Daria Egereva Missing from Climate Negotiations
With COP17 on biodiversity now over, attention turns to the next major UN environmental conference: COP31 on climate change, taking place in Antalya, Türkiye, from 9 to 20 November. Daria Egereva, Co-Chair of the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change, remains detained in Russia.
An interview published seven years ago reminds us what her participation has brought to international climate discussions — and what is lost when an Indigenous rights defender is prevented from speaking freely.
At COP25, Speaking About Knowledge and Women’s Lives
On 10 December 2019, for Human Rights Day, Landscape News published Gabrielle Lipton’s feature introducing two Indigenous women at COP25 in Madrid: Daria Egereva from Russia and Naijelijeli Tipap from Tanzania.
Daria was introduced as a Selkup activist from the Tomsk region, representing the Center for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North. Her contribution concerned traditional knowledge and the role of Indigenous women in her region. The feature connected international climate discussions with the experiences and knowledge of communities facing their consequences.
This is an archival publication, not a new interview. Returning to it allows readers to encounter Daria through her work, rather than only through news of her imprisonment.
Watch Daria at COP25
Video: Global Landscapes Forum — “COP 25: The Forest People of the Tomsk Region” (2019). Watch on YouTube.
A Co-Chair Whose Voice Is Missing
Daria’s contribution continued beyond COP25. IWGIA’s Indigenous World 2026 chapter on UN climate advocacy recognises her leadership as IIPFCC Co-Chair and dedicates the chapter to her following her detention after COP30.
Her absence from the approaching climate conference is therefore more than the loss of one participant. It deprives the process of the experience of a defender who helped bring Indigenous perspectives into international negotiations.
Natalia Leongardt, whose years of practical and organisational work supported Indigenous participation in international processes, also remains detained. Their cases connect the question of representation with the safety and freedom of those who make participation possible.
Carrying Their Voices into COP31
The transition from biodiversity negotiations to climate negotiations must not mean leaving these cases behind. Forests, lands, livelihoods and traditional knowledge connect both agendas. So does the need for independent Indigenous voices to participate without fear of reprisals.
Revisiting Daria’s COP25 contribution is one way to keep that experience present. Read the original feature, share her story and take action in solidarity with Daria and Natalia.
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