Bi Zhao Examines Women’s and Indigenous Advocacy at Climate Summits
In her new book published by Cambridge University Press, Who Tells Your Story? Women and Indigenous Peoples Advocacy at the UNFCCC, Bi Zhao, Ph.D., and her co-author examine advocacy for women and Indigenous peoples at United Nations climate change summits. Their work explores representation patterns among marginalized groups in global issues such as climate change. (The book is free to download until Feb. 27.)
Global leaders convene at these annual climate change summits, known as COPs, to negotiate issues such as greenhouse gas emission reductions and climate adaptation strategies. These gatherings also provide a platform for civil society organizations to advocate for climate justice. Women’s groups and Indigenous organizations actively participate, raising awareness about gender equality and Indigenous rights.
However, simply having access to these negotiations does not ensure meaningful representation. Zhao and her co-author investigate who is shaping climate justice narratives, how they do so, and the long-term impacts of their efforts. Using computational text analysis, they examined more than 20,000 tweets from civil society organizations, mapping discourse patterns on climate change. Their research also applied statistical models and included in-depth interviews at three COPs.
Their findings highlight differences in advocacy approaches. Women’s groups engage in self-representation, leading and shaping efforts to integrate gender equality into global climate governance. In contrast, Indigenous advocacy includes both self-representation and surrogate representation, where a range of civil society organizations—including non-Indigenous groups—advocate on their behalf. While broad-based advocacy can build alliances, it also raises concerns. When non-Indigenous voices dominate, there is a risk of marginalizing Indigenous perspectives and perpetuating tokenism in these spaces.
