Biofuel production, renewable energy expansion, other mitigation measures uprooting indigenous peoples in many regions
Indigenous peoples have contributed the least to world greenhouse gas emissions and have the smallest ecological footprints on Earth. Yet they suffer the worst impacts not only of climate change, but also from some of the international mitigation measures being taken, according to organizers of a United Nations University co-hosted meeting April 3 in Darwin, Australia.
Impacts of climate change on indigenous people worldwide include:
* In tropical and sub-tropical areas, an increase in diseases associated with higher temperatures and vector-borne and water-borne diseases like cholera, malaria and dengue fever;
* Worsening drought conditions and desertification, leading to more forest fires that disrupt subsistence agriculture, hunting and gathering livelihoods, as well as serious biodiversity loss;
* Distinct changes in the seasonal appearance of birds, the blooming of flowers, etc. These now occur earlier or are decoupled from the customary season or weather patterns;
* In arid and semi-arid lands: excessive rainfall and prolonged droughts, resulting in dust storms that damage grasslands, seedlings, other crops and livestock;
* In the Arctic, stronger waves, thawing permafrost and melting mountain glaciers and sea-ice, bringing coastal and riverbank erosion;
* Smaller animal populations and the introduction of new marine species due to changing animal travel and migration routes;
* In Boreal Forests, new types of insects and longer-living endemic insects (e.g. spruce beetles) that destroy trees and other vegetation;
* In coastal regions and small-island states, erosion, stronger hurricanes and typhoons, leading to the loss of freshwater supplies, land, mangrove forests and dislocation (environmental refugees);
* Increasing food insecurity due to declining fish populations and coral bleaching;
* Crop damaging pest infestations (e.g. locusts, rats, spruce beetles, etc.), and increasing food costs due to competition with the demand for biofuels;
* Extreme and unprecedented cold spells resulting in health problems (e.g. hypothermia, bronchitis, and pneumonia, especially for the old and young).
As well, indigenous people point to an increase in human rights violations, displacements and conflicts due to expropriation of ancestral lands and forests for biofuel plantations (soya, sugar-cane, jatropha, oil-palm, corn, etc.), as well as for carbon sink and renewable energy projects (hydropower dams, geothermal plants), without the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous people.
Specific instances of indigenous people being harmed by climate change mitigation measures include the case of a Dutch company whose operations include planting trees and selling sequestered carbon credit to people wanting to offset their emissions caused by air travel. In March 2002, its project was certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) and from 1999 to 2002 over 7,000 hectares of land were planted in Uganda.
The Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA), responsible for managing all national parks, forced indigenous people to leave the area. Forced evictions continued to 2002, leading indigenous people to move to neighboring villages, caves and mosques. Over 50 people were killed in 2004.
Meanwhile, indigenous peoples in Malaysia and Indonesia have been uprooted by the aggressive expansion of oil palm plantations for biofuel production. Likewise, nuclear waste sites and hydroelectric dam-building displace indigenous peoples from their ancestral territories.
Participants in Darwin, Australia will hear first hand the impact of climate change on indigenous peoples and how they are adapting to a warming world. They will also explore factors that facilitate or obstruct the participation of indigenous peoples in international processes and deliberations related to reducing emissions and emissions trading.
Entitled the International Expert Meeting on Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples, the event is being organized by UNU's Japan-based Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) in conjunction with the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNFII) and the North Australia Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA).
(Papers / documentation are available online at www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/EGM_CS08.html)
Specific objectives of the meeting:
* Exchange information on the effects of climate change;
* Draw attention to the impact of climate change on indigenous peoples, their livelihoods, cultural practices and lands and natural resources;
* Identify options and advance plans to address migration and many other issues faced by indigenous peoples due to climate change;
* Identify international institutions interested in partnership with indigenous peoples;
* Highlight good practice models; and
* Identify information gaps and prescribe a way forward.
The meeting's final report will be to be submitted to the seventh session of the UNPFII.
'Indigenous peoples regard themselves as the mercury in the world's climate change barometer,' says UNU-IAS Director A.H. Zakri. 'They have not benefited, in any significant manner, from climate change-related funding, whether for adaptation and mitigation, nor from emissions trading schemes. The mitigation measures for climate change are very much market-driven and the non-market measures have not been given much attention. We hope this meeting will help address that imbalance.'
Adds Dr. Zakri: 'Most indigenous peoples practice sustainable carbon neutral lives or even carbon negative life ways which has sustained them over thousands of years.
'There are at least 370 million indigenous people throughout the world living relatively neutral or even carbon negative life styles. While not a large number when compared to the world population of 6 billion, it does have a substantial impact in lowering emissions. Compare this to the impact of the United States, with a population of 300 million -- only 4% of the world's population ' but responsible for about 25 percent of world greenhouse gas emissions.'
The meeting will also hear how indigenous people are adapting to changing climate conditions.
In Bangladesh, for example, villagers are creating floating vegetable gardens to protect their livelihoods from flooding. In Vietnam, communities are helping to plant dense mangroves along the coast to diffuse tropical-storm waves.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/unu-iph040108.php
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