Climate change imperils Indigenous ecosystems, food security, knowledge bases and ways of life
As world leaders gather in Dubai for the 28th United Nations climate talks, Indigenous representatives from seven socio-cultural regions are calling for a moratorium on “false solutions” that ignore the roots of the climate crisis and urging a drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
The Indigenous peoples’ caucus, called the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change, or IIPFCC, had two minutes during COP28’s opening plenary Thursday to lay out their core concerns and assert their “inherent, distinct, internationally recognized rights” to influence the negotiations.
They called for creation of a mechanism for presenting grievances when carbon trading and offset schemes might impact the rights and lands of Indigenous peoples, strategies that prioritize the prevention of catastrophic loss and damage from climate change, direct access to funds when damage occurs, the equitable phaseout of fossil fuels and a just transition that respects Indigenous rights and knowledge.
The parties to the 2015 Paris Agreement said limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius over preindustrial levels must be the main objective of that accord, said Andrea Carmen, a coauthor of the IIPFCC’s statement, member of the Yaqui Nation and executive director of the International Indian Treaty Council. [Continue reading…]