When considering climate change, indigenous peoples and marginalised populations warrant particular attention. Impacts on their territories and communities are anticipated to be both early and severe due to their location in vulnerable environments. Indigenous and traditional knowledge has been recognised as an invaluable basis for developing climate change adaptation and natural resource management strategies. Nevertheless, it remains largely outside the scope of the assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In order to strengthen consideration of indigenous knowledge in IPCC’s fifth assessment report (5AR), to be released in 2014, this publication draws the attention to the rapidly growing scientific literature on the contributions of indigenous and traditional knowledge to understanding climate change vulnerability, resilience and adaptation.