This Radio Davos episode features Dean Sanders, an Aboriginal man from the Wiradjuri nation in Australia, and Fawn Sharp, a Native American leader from the Quinault Indian Nation in Washington state. Both serve as members of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Natural Capital, a 24-person expert group addressing how humans can thrive without destroying nature.

The conversation explores how indigenous peoples, despite representing only 6% of the global population, have access to and responsibility for 60% of the world's land mass. Sanders brings perspective from Australia's 100,000-year-old continuous culture spanning 500 separate nations, while Sharp represents one of 574 sovereign tribal nations in the United States.

Both leaders discuss practical examples of indigenous-led environmental protection, from Australia's governance systems that operated without war or borders for millennia, to Washington state's successful Climate Commitment Act that channels carbon revenue directly to tribal nations. They advocate for reimagining financial systems to include indigenous values and knowledge in addressing climate change and biodiversity loss.

Defining Indigenous Identity and Global Presence

Sharp defines indigenous peoples as those who "inhabited an area since time immemorial" and embody "generations of traditional knowledge, ancient knowledge, and also resilience."

Sanders emphasizes that "everybody is indigenous to somewhere" and indigenous peoples represent "that deeper relationship to place, that deeper relationship to country, to humanity."

Aboriginal Australians comprise "at least 500 separate nation groups" with different languages and cultures, yet maintained no evidence of "war or prisons or borders" across 100,000 years.

The United States contains "over 574 sovereign tribal nations" that have bilateral and multilateral relationships with the federal government.

Indigenous Land Stewardship and Climate Adaptation

Indigenous peoples control a disproportionate share of global biodiversity: "6% of the global population" with "access and responsibility for 60% of the world's land mass."

Aboriginal cultures survived massive climate changes, having "lived through three separate ice ages" and seen "our country shrink in physical land mass by 20%."

Sharp's Quinault Nation successfully sued the United States "all the way to the United States Supreme Court to protect our timbered lands" from clear-cutting.

Indigenous peoples "are outperforming everyone else by a very high percentage in our land stewardship" by maintaining remaining biodiversity.

Financial Systems and Nature Valuation Challenges

Sharp argues that indigenous values are "inherently incongruent with a system that by design is intended to maximize profit at the expense of nature."

Sanders references economist Partha Dasgupta's work showing that "if everybody paid for what they used, most corporations would in fact be bankrupted by the truth of those costs."

Indigenous decision-making uses the concept of "marulibu" meaning "next seven generations," ensuring responsibility extends far beyond immediate profit.

Sharp advocates for "indigenous finance platform or exchange where investors could go directly to indigenous communities to deploy capital at blended scale."

Successful Indigenous-Led Policy Implementation

Washington state's Climate Commitment Act "hardwired 10% of all carbon revenues directly dedicated to tribal nations" after indigenous-led advocacy.

The initiative generated "$1 billion into the Washington state treasury for local communities and indigenous nations" over four years.

Sharp describes leveraging public sector financing to "create a premium green bond, a deep green bond and a deep blue bond" for direct tribal investment.

The Calvert Fund example shows potential: "took 1% of their community fund to issue community bonds" resulting in "a hundred million raise" for tribal economies.