It makes little sense to write about Indigenous peoples’ rights without placing them in the post-pandemic context, and without articulating their distinct role in the climate crisis. Indeed, Indigenous peoples around the globe find themselves disproportionately affected by extractive operations but also so-called “development” or infrastructure projects – and this concerns, first and foremost, Indigenous peoples’ immediate environment and livelihoods, as sources of subsistence and spiritual significance. Discrimination and marginalization are not new. Since the colonial era, Indigenous peoples have been exposed to external threats, including deadly diseases and systemic dispossession, while often lacking the institutional means to defend themselves. Today, this legacy persists in the form of environmental injustice, prompting sustained and organized forms of territorial resistance and socioenvironmental defense on the ground. At the same time, the burden of protecting the planet’s climate and biodiversity has increasingly fallen to the grassroots – particularly to Indigenous communities. Their knowledge systems, based on long-standing ecological stewardship and intergenerational knowledge transmission, are now gaining recognition, also beyond their own contexts. They are being brought to the forefront of global environmental governance, where Indigenous voices are playing a growing role in shaping the agendas of international climate and biodiversity forums.