PGR News from the Pacific

Posted 4:30 PM by Tevita

Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change Front Lines

From Environment News Service.

OXFORD, UK, April 19, 2007 (ENS) - The Inuit of the Arctic can no longer hunt safely as the ice is breaking up around them. Pacific Islanders are losing coral atolls beneath rising seas. Caribbean islanders are battered by violent storms. Tribes in Borneo watch as their rainforests catch fire. Tibetans wonder why their sacred glaciers are melting and why the alpine medicinal plants are disappearing.

The threat of climate change to the world’s indigenous peoples was under the spotlight April 12 and 13 at an international symposium at Oxford University.

Participants agreed that communication among indigenous peoples and with scientists and policymakers is critical in adapting to the climate changes already underway and averting the worst consequences of global warming.

Visiting Fellow at Oxford University Dr. Jan Salick, host of the Oxford Indigenous People’s Symposium, said, "Both ethnoecological researchers and indigenous people themselves need to network and initiate comparable climate change research and action."

"Indigenous peoples must be integrated into discussions of climate change and policy formation," he said.

Scientists presented new research on the impacts of climate change on the indigenous Peoples of the Pacific, Southeast Asia, the Himalayas, North America, South America, Africa and Europe where they depend directly on natural resources threatened by global warming. The recent climate change summary report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, only mentioned "detrimental impacts ... to traditional indigenous ways of life’ in the Polar regions."

Yet according to the symposium organizers from Oxford's Environmental Change Institute, "Indigenous Peoples are in the immediate frontline of vulnerability to climate change.

"Although they have a global geographic spread and broad cultural diversity, there is a risk that the international climate change forum has lost sight of the immense collective danger they face," the organizers said.

Presentaters stressed the multifaceted nature of climate changes, not only in the wide variety of impacts, but also in the interplay with other processes such as inter-annual variation, habitat fragmentation, loss of biodiversity, disempowerment, insecurity, and lack of understanding.

Recurrent topics were the role that indigenous and local peoples play in maintaining and strengthening the resilience of healthy ecosystems, as well as the spiritual, emotional and moral implications of climate changes to local peoples.

Many indigenous peoples are showing how resourceful they are in applying their traditional knowledge to create strategies for lessening the impacts of natural disasters.

Some use strips of mangrove forest to absorb the force of tidal surges and tsunamis, others apply genetic diversity in crops to avoid total crop failure, and some communities migrate among habitats as disaster strikes, participants heard.

The symposium ended with a continuing planning session on conjoined research and action for and by indigenous and local peoples to afford them more prominence in the international climate change discussion and action.

Pablo Eyzaguirre from Bioversity International, an international agricultural research center, said, "Indigenous and traditional communities should be supported in their unique adaptation to marginal areas and ecosystem boundaries. We need to respect ecosystem buffers that also provide livelihoods, sacred spaces, and pathways for traditional peoples."

The symposium's opening session consisted of a general overview of climate change impacts and implications on the global scale. Director of the Environmental Change Institute, Professor Diana Liverman reviewed recent publications, such as the Stern and IPCC reports, global, British and EU policy developments, and initiatives developed by non-state actors such as corporations, cities and nongovernmental organizations.



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Box 14 Nuku'alofa Tonga Tel: (676) 23038 Fax: (676) 24271 Email: thaangana@hotmail.com Mr Frazer Bule Lehi Head of Research Department of Agriculture & Rural Development Private Mail Bag 040 Port Vila Vanuatu Tel: (678) 22525 Fax: (678) 25265 Email: flehi@hotmail.com Other links Other CROP agencies Forum Secretariat University of the South Pacific SPREP Pacific biodiversity Biodiversity hotspots Breadfruit Institute Hawaiian native plants Intellectual property rights Nature Conservancy PBIF PestNet SIDS WWF South Pacific Program Other Pacific organizations Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific Micronesian Seminar Te Puna web directory Pacific news Cafe Pacific CocoNET Wireless Island Directory Pacific Islands News Pacific Islands Report Pacific Islands Travel Pacific Time South Pacific travel Time Pacific Interested in GIS? DIVA-GIS	Sunday, April 22, 2007 Posted 4:30 PM by Tevita Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change Front Lines From Environment News Service. OXFORD, UK, April 19, 2007 (ENS) - The Inuit of the Arctic can no longer hunt safely as the ice is breaking up around them. Pacific Islanders are losing coral atolls beneath rising seas. Caribbean islanders are battered by violent storms. Tribes in Borneo watch as their rainforests catch fire. Tibetans wonder why their sacred glaciers are melting and why the alpine medicinal plants are disappearing. The threat of climate change to the world’s indigenous peoples was under the spotlight April 12 and 13 at an international symposium at Oxford University. Participants agreed that communication among indigenous peoples and with scientists and policymakers is critical in adapting to the climate changes already underway and averting the worst consequences of global warming. Visiting Fellow at Oxford University Dr. Jan Salick, host of the Oxford Indigenous People’s Symposium, said, "Both ethnoecological researchers and indigenous people themselves need to network and initiate comparable climate change research and action." "Indigenous peoples must be integrated into discussions of climate change and policy formation," he said. Scientists presented new research on the impacts of climate change on the indigenous Peoples of the Pacific, Southeast Asia, the Himalayas, North America, South America, Africa and Europe where they depend directly on natural resources threatened by global warming. The recent climate change summary report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, only mentioned "detrimental impacts ... to traditional indigenous ways of life’ in the Polar regions." Yet according to the symposium organizers from Oxford's Environmental Change Institute, "Indigenous Peoples are in the immediate frontline of vulnerability to climate change. "Although they have a global geographic spread and broad cultural diversity, there is a risk that the international climate change forum has lost sight of the immense collective danger they face," the organizers said. Presentaters stressed the multifaceted nature of climate changes, not only in the wide variety of impacts, but also in the interplay with other processes such as inter-annual variation, habitat fragmentation, loss of biodiversity, disempowerment, insecurity, and lack of understanding. Recurrent topics were the role that indigenous and local peoples play in maintaining and strengthening the resilience of healthy ecosystems, as well as the spiritual, emotional and moral implications of climate changes to local peoples. Many indigenous peoples are showing how resourceful they are in applying their traditional knowledge to create strategies for lessening the impacts of natural disasters. Some use strips of mangrove forest to absorb the force of tidal surges and tsunamis, others apply genetic diversity in crops to avoid total crop failure, and some communities migrate among habitats as disaster strikes, participants heard. The symposium ended with a continuing planning session on conjoined research and action for and by indigenous and local peoples to afford them more prominence in the international climate change discussion and action. Pablo Eyzaguirre from Bioversity International, an international agricultural research center, said, "Indigenous and traditional communities should be supported in their unique adaptation to marginal areas and ecosystem boundaries. We need to respect ecosystem buffers that also provide livelihoods, sacred spaces, and pathways for traditional peoples." The symposium's opening session consisted of a general overview of climate change impacts and implications on the global scale. Director of the Environmental Change Institute, Professor Diana Liverman reviewed recent publications, such as the Stern and IPCC reports, global, British and EU policy developments, and initiatives developed by non-state actors such as corporations, cities and nongovernmental organizations. * Comments: Post a Comment	Archive October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 January 2010 RSS Feed Alternative feed Contact Tevita Something new: Agrobiodiversity Weblog: For discussions of conservation and sustainable use of the genetic resources of crops, livestock and their wild relatives. 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