At the centre of the discussion of the first Plenary Panel was the connection between Indigenous peoples’ relationship with their territories and the growing recognition of nature as a rights-bearing entity. From Indigenous legal perspectives to the 2025 Advisory Opinion of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, these ideas are increasingly shaping international, regional, and domestic law.
The panel was convened by Christina Binder, Chair for International Law and International Human Rights Law at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich, and featured Philippe Cullet, Professor of International and Environmental Law at SOAS University of London and the National Law University Delhi; Federico Lenzerini, Professor of International Law at the University of Siena and Former Rapporteur for the ILA Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; Dalee Sambo Dorough, Alaskan Iñupiaq leader, Former Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, and Associate Professor at University of Alaska Anchorage; and René Urueña, Professor and WTO Chair at Universidad de los Andes, Colombia.
