Indigenous leaders demand consent rights for AI data centers

Indigenous advocates are pushing for stronger protections as artificial intelligence infrastructure expands onto their territories, raising concerns about water scarcity, energy consumption, and inadequate consultation processes.

At a July 2026 meeting of the U.N. Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), Indigenous leaders called for AI data center projects to comply with the principle of free, prior and informed consent — a standard that requires meaningful participation before development begins on Indigenous lands.

Why it matters

Hyperscale data centers powering AI can consume as much electricity as 100,000 households and require billions of gallons of water annually. As tech companies race to build this infrastructure, many facilities are being constructed in water-stressed regions and on Indigenous territories, creating resource conflicts that could reshape how emerging technologies are deployed globally.

Resource demands spark opposition

The infrastructure requirements are staggering. According to the International Energy Agency, conventional data centers draw 10 to 25 megawatts of power, but AI-focused hyperscale facilities built by companies like Google and Amazon can require 100 megawatts or more. Research by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates U.S. data centers directly consumed approximately 66 billion liters of water in 2023, with energy generation adding another 800 billion liters indirectly.

By 2030, data center energy consumption is expected to reach 945 terawatt-hours — enough to power all of sub-Saharan Africa's 1.3 billion residents for five and a half years, according to details first reported by Mongabay.

"AI is resource-intensive and requires vast amounts of energy," said Maren Storslett, a member of the Sámi Parliament in Norway, at the EMRIP meeting. "In Sápmi, we already see how large data centers put immense pressure on our territories."

Legal challenges mount

Opposition is taking multiple forms. In 2025, the Anacé Indigenous people in northeastern Brazil filed a complaint seeking cancellation of a $10 billion TikTok data center, arguing their consultation rights were violated. Roberto Anacé, a community leader, told Mongabay the project "hinders our community, first disrespectfully separating relatives, causing fights, personal interests, bringing out ambition and hatred in human beings, and above all destroying our sacred things: Mother Earth, water, climate, air."

In Chile, an environmental tribunal suspended construction of a Google data center in Santiago in 2024 after determining environmental impacts had not been properly assessed. Indigenous peoples and local communities had protested under the slogan "no es sequia, es saqueo" — "this is not a drought, this is a robbery."

In the United States, Tulsa city councilors passed a data center construction moratorium in March 2026 to assess impacts. Similar moratoriums have been enacted by the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

Some nations embrace opportunities

Not all Indigenous communities oppose the infrastructure. In Alberta, Canada, the Woodland Cree First Nation announced plans for a 650-megawatt data center with 51% tribal ownership. In New Zealand, Te Kāhui Raraunga has developed a Māori Data Governance Model and AI Governance Framework, bringing together leaders from 85 tribal nations to ensure community priorities are upheld.

"These hyperscale data centres come with promises of economic development and digital sovereignty; however, the reality can be much different," Erena Mikaere, digital program lead for Te Kāhui Raraunga, told Mongabay.

Google, Meta, and TikTok did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.

Aluki Kotierk, chair of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, emphasized that meaningful participation must extend throughout a project's entire lifecycle. "The data centers that power them consume vast amounts of energy, water and minerals, resources that are often extracted from or developed on Indigenous peoples' lands without their meaningful participation or consent," she said.

These details were first reported by Mongabay.