View
728
Download
2
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Climate Change and Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Global Landscapes Forum, December 5, 2015
“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-
being of himself & of his family…including food”
-- Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Health, Food and Well-Being are Human Rights
Deschutes River Oregon, Traditional Fishing, June 2007
“…In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.”
-- Article 1 in Common, International Covenants
on Civil and Political Rights and on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
The Treaty Right to Food
“The Privilege of hunting, fishing, and gathering the wild rice upon the lands the rives and the lakes including in the territory ceded, is guaranteed to the Indians”
-- 1837 US Treaty with the Chippewa Nation
History is Made: the UN General Assembly Adopts the Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples, September 2007
New York September 13th, 2007
Geneva, 1977
Lands, Territories and Resources
“Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they
have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired…”
--- Article 26, para 1.
Spiritual Relationship with Traditional Lands and Resources
“Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen
their distinctive spiritual relationship with their
traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used lands,
territories, waters and coastal seas and other resources and to uphold their responsibilities to future generations in this
regard.” -- Article 25
)
Subsistence Rights and Traditional Economies
“Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and develop their political, economic and social systems or institutions, to be secure in the enjoyment of their own means of subsistence and development, and to engage freely in all their traditional and other economic activities.” -- Article 20, paragraph 1
Environmental Protection and Productive Capacity of Lands
Indigenous peoples have the right to the
conservation and protection of the
environment and the productive capacity of their lands or territories
and resources… -- Article 29, para. 1
Article 32: FPIC and Development “States shall consult and
cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of their mineral, water or other resources.”
In 2008, the Treaty Chiefs of Alberta Canada called for a
Moratorium on expansion of Tar Sands development
Traditional Knowledge: Article 31
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora…
The Right to Participate in Decision-Making
“Indigenous peoples have the right to participate in decision-making in matters which would affect their rights, through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures, as well as to maintain and develop their own Indigenous decision-making institutions.” -- Article 18 Chief Wilton Littlechild, Rapporteur
UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 2007
How is Climate Change affecting us?
“Climate change constitutes the single most important threat to food security in the future” -- UN Rapporteur on the Right to Food
Olivier de Schutter report to the UN Human Rights Council, March 2009
--- “
Extreme Weather Events
The central part of the US is the only place on Earth that lies directly in between an Arctic land
mass and a tropical ocean
Moore Oklahoma, May 2013
Montana
The Forests are Drying and Burning
British Columbia, CanadaCalifornia USABritish Columbia Canada
Melting Arctic Ice Affecting Native Peoples and their Food Sources
Alaska
Once, more than a million spring-run Chinook lived in the waters of the Central Valley in California. In 2010 there were less than 10,000, a decline of 99%. Researchers at UC Davis predicted the
effect of climate change on the Chinook salmon. In all the scenarios, even the hopeful ones, spring run Chinook failed to
survive until 2099.
Vital Food Plants & Animals Threatened
Changing weather patterns include dramatic decreases in summer rainfall. Growing capacity of corn is decreasing dramatically in many regions of
Mexico and the US
UNFCCC COP 21: Indigenous Peoples continue to call for a
Strong, Rights-Based Outcome • Full participation in decisions and
programs that affect us • Protection for lifeways, lands &
tenure (OP 36) and resources • Binding commitments by States
to cap global temperature rise, significantly reduce GGE’s
• FPIC, recognition of Traditional • Knowledge in mitigation & adaptation programs
March for Indigenous Peoples Rights, COP15,
Copenhagen, 2009
20
Indigenous Traditional Knowledge-Based Responses to Climate Change
“Tule marshes absorb more than ten times more carbon than a pine forest”
-- Dr. William Carmen (Yaqui) Wildlife Biologist
Solutions and Responses within our Nations
Seed sharing and trading, 2nd International Corn Conference, Okmulgee, Oklahoma, September, 2014
Elders Teaching Survival Skills
Gathering Tsass, Ya Ne Dah Ah Tribal School, Chickaloon Native Village Alaska
Indigenous Peoples Salmon Gathering, Klamath River, California, June 2013: Restoring Traditional Knowledge and
“Taking Down the Dams”
“Coal is the Liver of Mother Earth. It has to stay in
the ground so she can be healthy.”
-- Dine elder Roberta
Blackgoat
Cheoque Utesia, Thank you very much