This report discusses how climate change and measures taken to mitigate it are negatively impacting indigenous peoples around the world. It describes how indigenous groups in locations like the Amazon, Arctic, and Canada are already experiencing effects of climate change like droughts, melting ice, and unpredictable weather that threaten their lands, livelihoods, and cultures. It also examines how renewable energy initiatives promoted as solutions to climate change, such as biofuels and hydroelectric dams, often appropriate indigenous territories and displace communities, with biofuels expansion especially threatening many groups in Brazil. The report contends these "mitigation measures" violate indigenous peoples' rights and make them more vulnerable to losing their lands.
A Vision for a 1.5°C Compatible Wine Industry by 2035 Kim Nicholas
Keynote speech given to the "Climate Leadership- Solutions for the Wine Industry" conference in Porto, Portugal, March 2019, by Professor Kimberly Nicholas, Lund University
A Road Map for Promoting Minority Ownership in the Wireless Industry Dr Lendy Spires
Affectionately known as the “Godfather of Minority Venture Capital,” Herb’s strong belief in the potential of minority businessmen and women motivated him to take risks that many others feared to take, leaving behind a legacy of success in minority-owned businesses in the communications industries.
Herb revolutionized minority entrepreneurship in the broadcasting, cable, telecom and wireless industries through his successful venture capital funds, Syndicated Communications, Inc., and Syncom Venture Partners, funds that, collectively, have invested nearly a half-billion dollars in approximately 150 minority-owned communications business enterprises over the past 35 years. With a mission to diversify the ownership of media and telecom in the United States, Herb, along with his long-time partners Terry Jones, Duane McKnight and the Syncom team, adopted a winning approach by investing in deals other venture capital firms refused, and sharing the risks and rewards of their investments with other minority venture capitalists through syndication-style investments.
The Syncom Funds not only made financial investments in minority entrepreneurs, but they also incubated them to help to ensure their success. Consistent with that vision, Syncom advised and invested in major industry icons and brands that include Bob Johnson of BET Holdings, Inc. and District Cablevision; Cathy Hughes and Alfred Liggins of Radio One and TV One; Moctesuma Esparza of Buena Vista Television and Maya Cinemas; Tom Castro of El Dorado Communications; Simplink Corporation; SiTV; Amador Bustos of Z-Spanish Media Corp, and made investments in two wireless companies, Movistar (Puerto Rico) and PrimeCo Wireless Communications LLC (Chicago).
Herb served on the boards of many of the companies in which Syncom invested. Notably, he served, along with cable television industry pioneer John Malone, on the board of directors of BET Holdings, Inc., helping to advise his friend and business partner Bob Johnson, who later became the first African American billionaire when BET was sold to Viacom. Herb, Bob Johnson, and former FCC Commissioner Tyrone Brown were the braintrust for BET’s future investments and would help to spawn initiatives to increase minority ownership, including the FCC tax certificate. And prior to becoming FCC Chairman, William E. Kennard was hand-selected by Herb to serve as Syncom’s primary outside counsel for a number of years. Herb’s numerous investments culminated in the acquisition of the $6 billion Iridium Satellite Corporation as part of a team of private investors who purchased Iridium from Motorola out of bankruptcy for $25 million, then led Iridium to a turnaround success.
A Vision for a 1.5°C Compatible Wine Industry by 2035 Kim Nicholas
Keynote speech given to the "Climate Leadership- Solutions for the Wine Industry" conference in Porto, Portugal, March 2019, by Professor Kimberly Nicholas, Lund University
A Road Map for Promoting Minority Ownership in the Wireless Industry Dr Lendy Spires
Affectionately known as the “Godfather of Minority Venture Capital,” Herb’s strong belief in the potential of minority businessmen and women motivated him to take risks that many others feared to take, leaving behind a legacy of success in minority-owned businesses in the communications industries.
Herb revolutionized minority entrepreneurship in the broadcasting, cable, telecom and wireless industries through his successful venture capital funds, Syndicated Communications, Inc., and Syncom Venture Partners, funds that, collectively, have invested nearly a half-billion dollars in approximately 150 minority-owned communications business enterprises over the past 35 years. With a mission to diversify the ownership of media and telecom in the United States, Herb, along with his long-time partners Terry Jones, Duane McKnight and the Syncom team, adopted a winning approach by investing in deals other venture capital firms refused, and sharing the risks and rewards of their investments with other minority venture capitalists through syndication-style investments.
The Syncom Funds not only made financial investments in minority entrepreneurs, but they also incubated them to help to ensure their success. Consistent with that vision, Syncom advised and invested in major industry icons and brands that include Bob Johnson of BET Holdings, Inc. and District Cablevision; Cathy Hughes and Alfred Liggins of Radio One and TV One; Moctesuma Esparza of Buena Vista Television and Maya Cinemas; Tom Castro of El Dorado Communications; Simplink Corporation; SiTV; Amador Bustos of Z-Spanish Media Corp, and made investments in two wireless companies, Movistar (Puerto Rico) and PrimeCo Wireless Communications LLC (Chicago).
Herb served on the boards of many of the companies in which Syncom invested. Notably, he served, along with cable television industry pioneer John Malone, on the board of directors of BET Holdings, Inc., helping to advise his friend and business partner Bob Johnson, who later became the first African American billionaire when BET was sold to Viacom. Herb, Bob Johnson, and former FCC Commissioner Tyrone Brown were the braintrust for BET’s future investments and would help to spawn initiatives to increase minority ownership, including the FCC tax certificate. And prior to becoming FCC Chairman, William E. Kennard was hand-selected by Herb to serve as Syncom’s primary outside counsel for a number of years. Herb’s numerous investments culminated in the acquisition of the $6 billion Iridium Satellite Corporation as part of a team of private investors who purchased Iridium from Motorola out of bankruptcy for $25 million, then led Iridium to a turnaround success.
Cities and climate change: a two-way relationship • Cities are major contributors to CO2 emissions. Roughly half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and this share is increasing over time, projected to reach 60% by 2030. Cities consume a great majority – between 60 to 80% – of energy production worldwide and account for a roughly equal share of global CO2 emissions. In the OECD, countries that are more urbanised tend to generate higher levels of CO2 emissions.
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in OECD cities are increasingly driven less by industrial activities and more by the energy services required for lighting, heating and cooling, appliance use, electronics use, and mobility. Growing urbanisation will lead to a significant increase in energy use and CO2 emissions, particularly in non-OECD countries in Asia and Africa where urban energy use is likely to shift from CO2- neutral energy sources (biomass and waste) to CO2-intensive energy sources. • Climate change poses key threats to urban infrastructure and quality of life. The tendency for cities to be located in coastal areas increases their vulnerability to water-related calamities, increasing the risk to property, livelihoods and urban infrastructure.
Rising sea levels are a critical issue for major cities – for example, in Europe, 70% of the largest cities have areas that are less than 10 meters above sea level. Port cities most at risk for coastal flooding are located both in rapidly growing developing countries such as India and China (e.g. Kolkata, Shanghai, Guangzhou) and in wealthy of countries such as the United States (e.g. Miami, New York City), the Netherlands (e.g. Rotterdam, Amsterdam) and Japan (e.g. Tokyo, Osaka). Heat waves will be felt more strongly in urban areas due to urban heat island effects.
Due to the large amount of concrete and asphalt in cities, the difference in average annual temperature with rural areas ranges from 3.5 to 4.5°C, and is expected to increase by 1°C per decade (up to a difference of 10°C with large cities). Poor populations in both rich and poor nations are the most vulnerable to climate change, in part because they lack the resources to quickly and effectively protect themselves from extreme weather patterns.
UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT...Dr Lendy Spires
Many African countries have already done much to create a more business-friendly environment to promote local investment as well as foreign direct investment, and many have made impressive progress towards political and economic stability. In their efforts to revive economic activity they have scaled down bureaucratic obstacles and interventions in their economies, embarked on privatization programmes and are putting in place pro-active investment measures.
These efforts -- helped by other factors such as high commodity prices -- have borne fruit in recent years, leading to a turnaround after a long period of economic contraction, in many countries. As a result, for the first time since the early 1980s, per capita gross domestic product of the continent as a whole has grown considerably for a number of consecutive years since 1994. Some countries that not so long ago were being torn apart by civil unrest or war have recovered and are growing again, although this growth has to be nurtured, given recent developments in the world economy.
Foreign direct investment in Africa -- which can make an important contribution to the economic development of the continent -- has increased only modestly in recent years, as the image of Africa among many foreign investors still tends to be one of a continent associated mainly with political turmoil, economic instability, diseases and natural disasters. However, although these problems persist in some African countries and although they are a serious impediment to the development of these countries, little attempt is often made to differentiate between the individual situations of more than 50 countries of the continent.
As a result, many African countries are not even listed for consideration by transnational corporations – let alone make it onto the “short list”– when it comes to locational decisions for FDI, despite offering a number of attractions to foreign investors. On close examination, however, one finds that a number of “frontrunners” have emerged who have attracted above-average amounts of FDI -- even by the standards of developing countries as a whole -- not only in traditional sectors, such as mining and petroleum, but also in manufacturing and service industries. Most importantly, from the viewpoint of foreign companies, investment in Africa seems to be highly profitable, more profitable indeed than in most other regions
The Yearbook series is a result of joint efforts by major African regional organizations to set up a joint data collection mechanism of socioeconomic data on African countries as well as the development of a common harmonized database. The Joint African Statistical Yearbook is meant to break with the practices of the past where each regional/sub-regional organization was publishing statistical data on African countries of the continent in an inefficient way, leading to duplication of efforts, inefficient use of scarce resources, increased burden on countries and sending different signals to users involved in tracking development efforts on the continent. It is expected that the joint collection and sharing of data between regional institutions will promote wider use of country data, reduce costs and significantly improve the quality of the data and lead to better monitoring of development initiatives on the continent.
The major strength of the African Statistical System is progress being achieved in its institutional framework. Pan-African, regional and national statistical bodies have all contributed to an increased number of frameworks and strategies targeting statistical capacity-building. Future initiatives should take advantage of existing programs and initiatives, forums, standards, and coordination bodies, and develop those that prove to be the most beneficial (for example, NSDS). Because many African countries have already adopted the 1968 and 1993 SNA, most economic statistics could be routinely available based on the SNA. Among the most serious weaknesses in the African Statistical System are the gaps in financial, human and technical resources, the lack of harmonization among countries and frequent non-alignment to international standards.
Major constraints include: the lack of predictable and sustained funding; inadequate administrative autonomy and professional independence in the NSS. These problems urgently need remedies, as they result in fragile and vulnerable national statistical systems that can hamper each step of data production. The following section on “The Way Forward” discusses how this process could be improved. The outlook for the African Statistical System is highly contingent on external factors which could impede or favor development.
The external environment is, in fact, quite favorable, although a number of potential threats must be avoided. Africa’s statistical community should take advantage of the increased demand for quality macroeconomic statistics and for evidence-based policy-making. Countries should make maximum use of available resources and opportunities for technical assistance and capacity-building, such as the AfDB Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) and the NSDS initiatives. The region should also seize the opportunities presented by the 2010 RPHC, and implementation of the 2008
Climate change: the livestock connectionAndrew Knight
The human-caused (anthropogenic) rate of species extinction is already 1,000 times more rapid than the ‘natural’ rate of extinction typical of Earth’s long-term history, with the result that we are currently living through one of the very few mass extinctions to date. It is clear that climate change represents the greatest threat to life on Earth for many millennia.
Given the urgency with which we must reduce the size of our collective ecological footprint, it is remarkable that so little attention has been afforded to livestock production. The inconvenient truth is that the emissions resulting from clearing land to graze livestock and grow feed, from the livestock themselves, and from processing and transporting livestock products, are greater than those resulting from any other sector. These factors are explored, as are the profound impacts of climate change on global food security.
Strategies for mitigating the environmental damage created by livestock production are reviewed. It is clear that replacing livestock products with alternatives would be the best strategy for reversing climate change, and would have far more rapid effects on green house gas emissions and their atmospheric concentrations, than actions to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources.
This is a power point presentation for class 11 students.this is purely for seminar or presentation based.This is to help students for ideas ,how to present and to know the earth ,love it.
child presentation about climate change. This described the difference between climate and weather. Sea level increases, deforestations, effect to coral reef,
"The Lahore Project" is working under Lahore Conservation society for the conservation of our Humanity and our environment. The presentation describing the present world scenario in relation to the context of Lahore and some interesting facts about it, given by Kamil khan Mumtaz in its meeting on 10th of October 2012, at Dabistan e Iqbal, Lahore
Biological diversity or biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms at all levels of biological systems (i.e. molecular, organism, species, population and ecosystem levels) and is used to measure the health of ecosystems.
Climate justice in the Pacific, by Jo Chandlerwalkleys
This essay, published in The Monthly in April 2023, was produced with support of the Walkley Public Fund. Link (paywalled): https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2023/april/jo-chandler/climate-justice-pacific#mtr
Is Climate Change, a modern tragedy of the commons?
The most inconvenient truth of all
1. The most
inconvenient
truth of all
climate change and indigenous people
A Survival International Report
2. introduction
Indigenous people are on the frontline of climate change. Living in parts of the
world where its impacts are greatest and depending largely, or exclusively, on
the natural environment for their livelihoods, culture and lives, they are more
vulnerable to climate change than anyone else on earth.
According to reports, the impact of climate change on indigenous people is
already being felt around the world: from the Arctic to the Andes to the Amazon,
from the islands of the Pacific Ocean to Canada’s Pacific Rim.
Equally important, but barely recognized, is the impact that measures to stop
climate change are having, or may have, on indigenous people. These
‘mitigation measures’ violate their rights and make it easier for governments,
companies and others to lay claim to, exploit and, in some cases, destroy their
land – like climate change itself.
This report is an exposé of these mitigation measures. They include:
1
• Biofuels
• Hydroelectric power
• Forest conservation
• Carbon offsetting
This report is published ahead of critical climate change talks to be held in
Copenhagen in December 2009. The purpose of the talks, organized under the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is to
finalise agreements on how to combat climate change when the current
agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, runs out in 2012.
What is ‘The Most Inconvenient Truth of All’? That the world’s indigenous
people, who have done the least to cause climate change and are most
affected by it, are now having their rights violated and land devastated in
the name of attempts to stop it.
‘The world is ill.
The lungs of the
sky are polluted.
We know it
is happening.’
Davi Kopenawa, Yanomami, Brazil
The Penan are just one of many tribes
affected by climate change.
3. 2
Climate change refers to the average rise in the
earth’s temperatures.1 The Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a scientific
body established to assess global warming, says
the evidence for it is ‘unequivocal’.2 It is more than
90% certain that ‘most of the global average warming
over the past fifty years’ is a result of human-induced
greenhouse gas emissions.3
According to the IPCC, the main cause of climate
change is the burning of fossil fuels, which emits
greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.4
Deforestation, says the IPCC, is another major
source of carbon emissions.5 Forests act as
‘sinks’ that absorb and store carbon dioxide.
The IPCC lists, with varying degrees of certainty,
a number of impacts that global warming is having
on the planet.6 These include:
• Melting glaciers
• Melting ice caps
• Melting sheet ice
• Rising sea-levels
• Changing rainfall
• More frequent drought
• More frequent heat waves
what is climate change?
Deforestation of virgin forest
for crops such as soya and
oil palm not only devastates
the lands of many tribes but
also, according to the IPCC,
is another major source of
carbon emissions.
4. how are indigenous
people affected?
3
‘Mother Earth is no longer
in a period of climate change,
but climate crisis.’
The Anchorage Declaration, 2009.8
The Amazon
In 2005 a severe drought struck the Amazon
rainforest, home to hundreds of indigenous peoples
such as the Yanomami. Experts predict less rain,
more frequent droughts, and higher temperatures.7
‘The rains come late. The sun behaves in a
strange way. The world is ill. The lungs of the
sky are polluted. We know it is happening.
You cannot go on destroying nature. We will
all die, burned and drowned.’ Davi Kopenawa,
Yanomami leader and shaman, Brazil.9
The Arctic
The Inuit have said for years that climate change
is affecting their land.10 Their whole way of life
depends on ice – and now it is melting.11 Hunting
and fishing have become more difficult, travel
between villages dangerous, the existence of their
homes precarious.12 According to media reports,
earlier this year one village belonging to the Yup’ik
(a people related to the Inuit) announced it would
be forced to relocate after flooding.13
‘Inuit have a traditional juggling game. The
weather is sort of like that now. The weather
is being juggled; it is changing so quickly and
drastically.’ N. Attungala.14
‘It has become so serious that several coastal
villages are now actively trying to figure out
where to move entire communities.’ Patricia
Cochran, Inuit woman and chair of Indigenous
Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change.15
Saami reindeer herders from Finland, Norway,
Russia and Sweden report that herd numbers
are declining, reindeer are finding it more difficult
to access food, and are more likely to fall through
thinning ice.16
‘Traditional weather reading skills can’t be
trusted any more. In the olden times one could
see beforehand what kind of weather it will
be. These signs and skills hold true no more.
Old markers do not hold true, the world has
changed too much now.’ Veikko Magga.17
Reindeer herder, Siberia, Russia
5. 4
‘Many aspects of Saami culture
– language, songs, marriage,
child-rearing and the treatment
of older persons – are
intimately linked with reindeer
herding. If reindeer herding
disappears, it will have a
devastating effect on the whole
culture of the Saami people.’
Olav Mathis-Eira.18
Nenets reindeer herders from the Russian Arctic
say they are facing increasingly unpredictable
weather.19 According to media reports, their annual
pilgrimage last year, involving thousands of reindeer,
was delayed because the ice over a key river was
not thick enough to cross.20
‘The snow is melting sooner, quicker and
faster than before. The changes aren’t good
for the reindeer and ultimately what is good
for the reindeer is good for us.’ Jakov Japtik.21
Canada
According to one report, rising temperatures in
Canada have led to what scientists have called
the largest insect infestation in the history of North
America.22 It has destroyed millions of acres of pine
trees that indigenous people like the Tl’azt’en
rely on.23
‘Millions of acres have been destroyed with
direct, immediate and serious impacts on our
safety and well-being, communities and entire
eco-systems, including salmon spawning and
rearing streams and migration routes.’
Tl’azt’en man, Ed John.24
According to reports, the Gitga’at are experiencing
increasingly unpredictable weather, affecting the
way they obtain and prepare their food.25
‘They don’t even know what to do with
this weather!’ Gitga’at woman, Canada.26
6. How are mitigation measures
affecting indigenous people?
5
‘These so-called ‘solutions’
to climate change are grabbing
our land and devastating
our territories.’ 27
Many different measures are being taken in the
name of combating climate change. Some of these
are ‘formal’ measures agreed to by signatories to
the UNFCCC’s Kyoto Protocol. Others are
‘voluntary’, taken by multilateral organizations,
governments and companies.
Biofuels:
Not so ‘green’ for the Guarani
Biofuels are being promoted as an alternative,
‘green’ source of energy to fossil fuels, but much
of the land allocated to grow them is the ancestral
land of indigenous people. It has been estimated
that if biofuels expansion continues as planned,
sixty million indigenous people worldwide are
threatened with losing their land and livelihoods.28
One of the biggest victims of the biofuels craze
is the Guarani tribe in Brazil. The Guarani, some
of whom featured in the award-winning film
‘Birdwatchers’29, are Brazil’s biggest tribe and were
one of the first to be contacted by Europeans five
hundred years ago.
Brazil’s President Lula is expanding sugar
cane cultivation in order to convert it into ethanol
to meet energy demands. The stated aim is to
make Brazil more energy self-sufficient and
reduce fossil fuel consumption as a means of
combating climate change.
‘Biofuels are an effective weapon in the fight
against global warming,’ Lula said at the Fifth
Summit of the Americas held in the Caribbean
this year. ‘Our society demands renewable, clean,
inexpensive fuels. The production of sugar cane
ethanol increases energy security.’30
In September, Lula stepped up his attempts to
‘green’ biofuels by announcing a proposal to ban
sugar cane production in the Amazon rainforest.
This would make Brazilian ethanol made from
sugar cane ‘100% green’, said Brazil’s Environment
Minister Carlos Minc – meaning that no more
rainforest would need to be cut down to grow it.31
Oil palm plantation, Peru. Much of the land used to
grow biofuels such as oil palm is the ancestral land
of tribal peoples.
7. 6
But the Guarani, having already lost much of their land
to sugar cane plantations and cattle-ranchers, are now
threatened by Lula’s plans for more than forty new
plantations. Many of these will be planted on ancestral
land claimed by the tribe.
The effects have already been catastrophic. In the
last six years at least eighty children have died from
starvation.32Once the owners of 350,000 sq. kms.
of Mato Grosso do Sul state, many Guarani are
now camped on roadsides or on tiny parcels of
land surrounded by plantations.
‘The big sugar cane plantations are now occupying
our land. Sugar cane is polluting our rivers and
killing our fish. (It is increasing) suicides, mainly
among young people, alcoholism and murder,’
said Guarani leader Amilton Lopez during a tour
of Europe last year.33
Hydroelectric power:
‘Damming’ Borneo’s hunter-gatherers
Like biofuels, hydroelectric power (HEP) has been
identified as a major source of alternative energy to
fossil fuels. But the construction of large hydroelectric
dams in the name of combating climate change is
destroying indigenous land and driving people from
their homes.
In Borneo, Malaysia’s government promoted the
construction of the enormous Bakun dam as a source
of ‘green energy’ and part of the country’s effort to stop
global warming. The dam is due to be completed next
year and will flood 700 sq. km of surrounding land.
The Bakun dam ‘is very much in line with the objective
of reducing and containing global warming as well as
reducing acidity in rain at the local and regional levels,’
said ‘Green Energy for the Future’, published by the
Malaysian prime minister’s office.34
In Brazil, the Guarani have been forced off their
land and many now live by the side of the road.
‘Thus the project serves as the country’s positive
contribution to the protection and enhancement of
the global environment, in line with the Framework
Convention on Climate Change. . . Compared to fossil
fuels, hydropower is much cleaner and friendlier.’35
But the dam displaced 10,000 indigenous people,
including many members of the Penan tribe. The
relocated Penan, semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers,
are now unable to hunt or gather and struggle to
support themselves on tiny plots of land, some
of which include swamps and rubble.36
‘In our old homes we could easily find food,
but living here is very painful,’ a Penan man
called Deling, one of those displaced by the Bakun
dam, told a Survival researcher this year. ‘We used
to eat three times a day, but here it is very
difficult. Once a day.’
8. 7
Hundreds more Penan and other tribal people face
the same fate following plans, leaked on the internet,
by the Sarawak government to build more dams.
The first of these, the Murum dam, is currently
under construction: hillsides are being dynamited,
the Penan are being told they must leave.
Like Bakun, government ministers are appealing
to HEP’s ‘clean’ credentials to justify the project.
‘Hydropower is the cleanest renewable energy
the world has. Since we have it, why not develop
it?’ said government minister James Masing, just
after the plans were leaked.37
Six members of the Penan were arrested in
September after trying to voice their opposition to
the Murum dam to Sarawak’s chief minister. ‘The
forest areas and resources that support our lives will
be destroyed,’ said a statement from the Penan.38
Forest conservation:
Thousands of hunter-gatherers
to be expelled
An international appeal to save the Mau Forest in
Kenya has been launched by Prime Minister Raila
Odinga after thousands of hunter-gatherers from
Kenya’s Ogiek tribe were told to abandon their
homes there.
Years of illegal settlement have devastated much
of the forest, a crucial source of water to millions
of Kenyans. But the government’s plans for it involve
evicting everyone resident there, including the Ogiek,
who have lived in the forest sustainably for hundreds
of years.
In its appeal to the international community for
funding to save the forest, Kenya’s government
is citing climate change as a key motivation. This
year, Kenya has experienced devastating droughts,
leading to severe power and food shortages.
‘The water from the dam will flood our traditional
lands including our villages, gardens, paddy
fields, farmlands and graves etc. . . We will be
forced to move to an area that we do not know
and is not compatible with our life conditions.’39
The Murum Dam is under construction, and
many Penan will be forced to leave their land.
‘Years of rampant excess in the global and
local mismanagement of our environment have
contributed to the melting of ice caps on Mt Kenya
and the vast destruction of our once-beautiful
forests,’ Odinga told the UN in September.40
Odinga said that Kenya was acting to ‘reverse the
ravages’ of global warming and cited Kenya’s efforts
to save the Mau Forest as an example.41 ‘No agenda
is as important to the country today as that of climate
change. Conservation has moved to the top of our
national agenda.’ 42
Kenya has also announced its intention to plant
7.6 billion trees, some of which are destined for
the Mau Forest.43 The carbon stored in these trees
could become financially very valuable in the carbon
market – while the forest’s ancestral residents,
the Ogiek, go homeless.
9. pretext they are destroying the forest. In late October
2009, some reports suggested the government was
backing down on its intention to evict the Ogiek, in
the face of widespread international condemnation.
At the time of writing, the Ogiek’s fate
remains unclear.
8
‘Everyone has been living in fear for the last
month... People are crying about the eviction.
The government said it would spare no one,’
said Kiplangat Cheruyot, of the Ogiek People’s
Development Program.
Kenya’s government has repeatedly tried to evict
the Ogiek in the past, usually on the misplaced
‘This is very serious. The Ogiek
have nowhere else to go.’
Kiplangat Cheruyot, Ogiek, Kenya.
Carbon offsetting:
Indigenous people without rights?
Attempts to stop deforestation have led to the
proposal of various schemes known collectively as
‘Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
Degradation’ (REDD). A REDD scheme is currently
being discussed by the UNFCCC, may be finalized
at Copenhagen, and is expected to play a key role in
the post-Kyoto agreement to fight climate change.
The basic principle of REDD is to encourage
‘developing’ countries to protect their forests by
‘developed’ countries paying them. One way of
doing this is for the carbon stored in these forests
to generate ‘credits’ that ‘developed’ countries
can buy to offset their carbon emissions.
Indigenous people have repeatedly voiced concerns
about REDD because it could place enormous
monetary value on their forests and spark a land
grab. A large proportion of the world’s forests,
liable for inclusion in REDD schemes, are traditional
indigenous territories.
‘REDD will increase the violation of our human
rights, our rights to our lands, territories and
resources, steal our land, cause forced evictions,
10. 9
prevent access and threaten indigenous
agriculture practices, destroy biodiversity
and culture diversity and cause social conflicts,’
said the International Forum of Indigenous Peoples
on Climate Change (IFIPCC).44
REDD could make it more difficult for indigenous
people to have their land rights recognized, or
more likely for their rights to be undermined or
ignored where already recognized. If it does not
lead to evictions, it may well restrict traditional
use of land or access to natural resources.
It is not clear if REDD will even recognize
indigenous rights. In the UNFCCC’s current draft,
references to the UN’s Declaration on Indigenous
Rights and indigenous peoples’ rights to free, prior
and informed consent are in brackets. Whether they
are included in the final text may depend on the
Copenhagen summit.
‘If there is no full recognition and full protection
for indigenous peoples’ rights, including the
rights to resources, lands and territories, and
there is no recognition and respect of our rights
of free, prior and informed consent, we will
oppose REDD,’ said the IFIPCC in September.45
According to reports, many indigenous people have
already suffered from carbon projects on their land.
These ‘voluntary’ projects, outside the UNFCCC,
have led to evictions from their ancestral homes,
the destruction of villages and resources, violent
conflict, harassment, injuries and reports of deaths.46
Recommendations
Where they affect indigenous peoples,
measures to mitigate the impact of climate
change must:
• Involve indigenous people fully and
draw on their unequalled knowledge
of their environments.
• recognize and respect indigenous
rights as enshrined in international
law (ILO Convention 169) and the
UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples, particularly their
right to the ownership of their land and
their right to give or withhold consent to
developments in their territories.
REDD schemes could
place a huge monetary
value on the world’s
forests and spark a land
grab, leaving indigenous
peoples with nothing.
11. Footnotes
1 The IPCC’s official definition is: ‘. . . a change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its
properties, and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer. It refers to any change in climate over time, whether due to natural
variability or as a result of human activity. This usage differs from that in the UNFCCC, where climate change refers to a change of climate that is
attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and that is in addition to natural climate variability
observed over comparable time periods.’ IPCC, 2007.
Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report, p. 30
http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_synthesis_report.htm
2 Ibid. p. 30.
3 Ibid. p. 72.
4 ‘Technical Summary’, Contribution of Working Group 1 to the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report, 2007, p. 23-25.
http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_wg1_report_the_physical_science_basis.htm
5 IPCC, 2007.
Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report, p. 36
http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_synthesis_report.htm
6 Ibid p. 30
7WWF, 2007. The Amazon’s Vicious Cycles, p. 4.
8 Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change, 24 April 2009 http://www.indigenoussummit.com/servlet/content/declaration.html
9 The Guardian, 13 June 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/13/davi-yanomami
10 S. Watt-Cloutier, Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), speaking to the UNFCCC, 7 December 2005.
http://inuitcircumpolar.com/index.php?ID=318&Lang=En
11 ‘Satellite data since 1978 show that annual average Arctic sea ice extent has shrunk by 2.7 (2.1-3.3)% per decade, with larger decreases in
summer of 7.4 (5.0-9.8)% per decade.’ IPCC, 2007, Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report, p. 30
http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_synthesis_report.htm
12 Petition to the Inter American Commission on Human Rights seeking relief from violations resulting from global warming caused by acts and
omissions of the United States, 2005. http://inuitcircumpolar.com/index.php?ID=316&Lang=En
13CNN, 28 April 2009 http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/04/24/climate.change.eskimos/index.html
14 Arctic Climate Impact Assessment http://www.eoearth.org/article/Nunavut_climate_change_case_study#Introduction
15 BBC, 4 January 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6230731.stm
16 Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. http://www.eoearth.org/article/Kola:_the_Saami_community_of_Lovozero_climate_change_case_study
& Arctic Climate Impact Assessment
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Sapmi:_the_communities_of_Purnumukka%2C_Ochejohka%2C_and_Nuorgam_climate_
change_case_study
17 Arctic Climate Impact Assessment
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Sapmi:_the_communities_of_Purnumukka%2C_Ochejohka%2C_and_Nuorgam_climate_change_case_study
18 Tebtebba, 2008. Guide on Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples, p. 72.
19 The Guardian, 20 October 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/20/arctic-tundra
20 Ibid.
21 Ibid.
22 International Indian Treaty Council, 2008. Climate Change, Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples, p. 19
23 Ibid. p. 19-20. See also http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/science/18trees.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
24 Ibid. p. 20
25 Salick, J and A. Byg, 2007. Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change, p. 16.
http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/indigenous_peoples_climate_change.pdf
26 Ibid. p. 11.
27 Indigenous Peoples’ Guide: False Solutions to Climate Change, 2009, p. 2.
http://www.carbontradewatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=262&Itemid=36
28 Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, email to Survival, 29 April, 2008.
29 For more information: http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/3672
30 China View, 19 April, 2009. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/19/content_11212325.htm
31 BBC, 18 September 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8262381.stm
32 Campo Grande News, 17 December 2008. http://www.campogrande.news.com.br/canais/view/?canal=8&id=242815
33 Survival transcription and translation.
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