Over 370 million indigenous peoples live in nearly 70 countries
today. They see themselves as caregivers of the land and have
maintained a close relationship with the earth. This traditional
role was stressed during the sixth session of the United Nations
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, whose special theme was
the indigenous peoples' rights to Territories, Lands and
Natural Resources, held at UN Headquarters in New York from
14 to 25 May 2007. Climate change was one of the priority issues
discussed at various events during the two-week session.
Speaking at a panel discussion on indigenous peoples' perspectives
on climate change on 17 May, moderator and panellist Christopher
Peters of the Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development
said: "Like a stone dropped in a lake or a pond, the ripples
of climate change will impact all species on earth". He
added that "drought, flood, hurricanes, heatwaves, the
melting polar ice caps, the shrinking mountain glaciers and
increasing sea levels-all of our relations will be impacted".
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| Melting
Ice/ photo courtesy of UNEP |
Emphasizing that global warming was a priority for indigenous
peoples, the Chairperson of the NGO Committee on the International
Decade for the World's Indigenous Peoples and a representative
from Puerto Rico to the Forum, told the UN Chronicle
that "indigenous peoples all over the world, from South
America to Asia, are all affected in many ways by climate change.
We see climate change linked to issues of our lands and territories."
Citing the example of indigenous peoples from the Arctic region,
who have started speaking out on the issue of climate change,
Roberto Borrero emphasized that "their whole traditional
lifestyle of hunting and fishing has been changed because of
climate change", and that "lack of access [of indigenous
peoples to outside communities] is a very big issue". He
commented that an equitable way of exchanging knowledge between
governmental and non-governmental organizations and indigenous
groups should be promoted. "We have seen some positive
movements, but there is always room for improvements and education
regarding this issue", he concluded.
The IPCC report, Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation
and Vulnerability, released in Brussels in April 2007, states
that "in the Arctic, additional impacts include reductions
in the extent of sea ice and permafrost, increased coastal erosion
and an increase in the depth of permafrost seasonal thawing."
At a press conference to launch a new report on the effects
of climate change on indigenous and tribal communities, particularly
in the Arctic region, John Scott, Social Affairs Officer at
the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity said:
"What has been missing in all the research done on global
warming and the loss of biodiversity has been an examination
of the social factors, or a look at the 'human face' of the
phenomenon-it is clear that indigenous and local communities
highly vulnerable to climate change are providing that face."
He went on to say that "indigenous and local communities,
who are often among the world's most marginalized and impoverished
people, will bear the brunt of this catastrophe because of their
close association with their traditional lands and water."
Also at the press conference, a group of panellists expressed
their concerns from different regional perspectives. Mattias
Ahren, a reindeer herder from the Swedish side of the Sami
territory and a trained international lawyer on indigenous
rights, told reporters that the increasing temperature-by
half a degree per decade-and the variation in temperatures
would affect the livelihoods of the herders, who are the keepers
of the Sami cultural heritage.
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| Young boy
with a reindeer in Lapland UN photo/ O Monsen |
"Due to global warming, the indigenous way of life has
suffered because of flooding and avalanches", said panellist
Lakan Bibi, representing the Indigenous Peoples Survival Foundation
and the indigenous peoples in the Hindu Kush mountain range.
Citing an example of an avalanche that occurred when a breakaway
glacier, about "the size of Central Park", swept away
an entire village in her region last year, Ms. Bibi pointed
out that indigenous knowledge could be a vital contribution
to modern sciences in tackling climate change and called for
indigenous peoples to be included in the discussions of the
issue.
"Climate change continues to be an urgent and primary concern
for indigenous peoples of the Pacific and it continues to have
a devastating affect on all of our islands", said another
panellist, Malia Nobriga from Hawaii, who spoke on behalf of
the Pacific Islands. She called for the immediate attention
of all Member States and United Nations agencies to the crisis,
saying that there was a great need for new substantial funding
to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Ms. Nobriga urged
small island indigenous groups to call on the Permanent Forum
to consider climate change as a special theme for its next year's
session. |
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