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Low Risk Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change

Much has been made of the consequences of climate change on the world's most biodiverse ecosystems like the Amazon rain forest, coral reefs, the cloud forests , among others. But rarely is mentioned, in addition to living in these regions mostly indigenous peoples or marginally poor economy that rely heavily on use of resources in these areas. From this perspective, climate change poses a serious threat to the socially vulnerable communities, which as usual, are receiving less government support and attention.

This problem is the central theme that addresses one of the articles that was published today by BBC World. It in may find more extensive and specific examples on the impact of climate change on stability indigenous social .

The Earth Has Fever

Note: Alejandra Martins, BBC World, 07/01/2009

Gonzalo Oviedo is an advisor on social policy International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN for its acronym in English, and coauthor of a report by the organization on the impact of climate change on indigenous peoples. According to the expert, some of the areas most at risk of global warming in Latin America are both areas high human vulnerability, because they live in communities often pushed into marginal areas in poverty, with very little attention from the public sector.

These communities are not only victims of climate change, are also demanding a greater role in designing adaptation strategies. 80% of the world's forests are in areas inhabited by indigenous peoples, according to the United Nations Program for the Environment, and any mechanism for responding to climate change will affect them directly.

From the Andes to Central
For America, "has proven that mountains are very sensitive to climate change. The decline in rainfall leads to a decrease of glaciers and, for example, Peru, in the high mountains has shown a significant decrease in the amount of ice melts into water, giving rise to the rivers, "said Oviedo.

same as the author of the report of the IUCN, has been in "the case of Bolivia in the highlands where the river Lauca what is causing a drought in areas where indigenous peoples live. "something similar is observed in Ecuador, where the volcano Cotopaxi snow melt feeds the sources of water discharged into the valleys, giving rise to rivers with flows now are "dwindling".

In the dry zone of the southern Andes (Bolivia, Peru and northern Chile) "there are communities that are suffering severely from drought, as the Urus, where until now has not done anything, "said Oviedo. In Central America, the problem lies elsewhere: Exposure to extreme weather events such as hurricanes, which originate in the Caribbean. "Particularly the Atlantic coast of Central America is concerned, and that's where he lives, for example, the Miskito people. And in the mountainous area greatly affected by these weather events is also home to indigenous peoples, which in many cases work ecologically fragile lands , on small plots of low fertility. "

Dramatic
Indigenous peoples have traditionally used methods of adaptation to climate variations. In Latin America have very little research traditional coping responses to climate variability, according to Oviedo.

"Indigenous communities in the Andes for centuries have practiced a system of selective use of ecological, moving up or down the mountain, growing for example, most varieties of potato resistant to dry weather and cold in the top and using other crops in the lowlands. " According to Oviedo is an excellent adaptation to climate variability, but it would not be enough if the whole mountain is affected by a severe reduction in the amount of water. In many cases, moreover, communities have lost access rights to land around that range.

have also been traditionally constructed small dams for water harvesting, but local mechanisms would be insufficient to meet the extensive changes that are predicted with global warming. "The problem now is that climate changes at the level of water availability are as dramatic as those systems alone will not work."

traditions and modern techniques
The answer may lie in combining prácticas tradicionales con otras técnicas de eficacia probada, y un ejemplo de que esto es posible es el llamado quesungual, un método de agroforestación desarrollado en Honduras.

El sistema incorpora prácticas tradicionales de las comunidades indígenas lencas, como el cultivo entre árboles que sujetan la tierra, evitando deslizamientos, y elementos más modernos desarrollados en conjunto con técnicos de la FAO, como la no quema de vegetación y la diversificación de cultivos.

Podrían también Latin America adapt to sophisticated techniques of water harvesting, such as the "aflaj" used in arid lands of the Middle East, for example. Highly developed systems of collecting water in Incan times have been lost, says Oviedo, and the current system of using earth wall dams open is doubly problematic: water is lost by seepage and evaporation. In the technique "aflaj" which means sharing the water that falls on top of mountains runs through rock tunnels and stored in underground reservoirs, where it is shared according to strict rules, explains Oviedo.

"Maize homogenized" What message
indigenous peoples want to take the climate change conference to be held in Copenhagen in December? The impact of global warming on indigenous peoples was the focus of a summit this year in Alaska, attended by Latin American representatives.

"Indigenous peoples in Alaska were not to blame anyone, but to heal the Earth. She has a fever because we have sacked their blood, oil, and we have the air as greenhouse gases. But this can cure fever, Felipe says Íñigez, coordinator of Agroecological Movement of Latin America and the Caribbean, MAELA. Iñigez, community Wirrarika (Huichol) or "walking" the state of Jalisco in Mexico, noted that indigenous peoples in their country are suffering particularly from GM crops and the rental of land for large enterprises to chemical agriculture monocultures as biofuels.

"We have a great loss of biodiversity, more than half of all imports of U.S. food comes from our people for thousands of years has lived in the cornfield, an association of crops with the least five different colors of corn to represent the views of the Earth, the food that God has given us. "Dependence on homogenized corn, instead of selected seeds by farmers, makes farmers more vulnerable, and is why the issue should be raised in international forums, says Iñigez. "The original people are not a problem, we are much of the way it has solved problems for thousands of years with great collection of wisdom."

" sacred tree "
One issue that indigenous peoples must take to international forums is the risk of mega development and regional integration BBC warned Egberto Tabo, representing the COICA, Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin, based in Ecuador. The Amazon basin, where more than 400 peoples with different customs and knowledge, is threatened, according Tabo, road projects such as the Manta Manaos, one-way road, he says, has caused deforestation in the Amazon.

Amazonian peoples can also bring their spirituality and through it in a deeper way to feel and react to what is happening in nature. "Every living thing is something for us has something to contribute. A tree is a being that guides us, a very sacred, as well as for white people the Church is a sacred place. "
" moral obligation "Countries" should collect information on traditional forms of adaptation could.

"In our country where we know that there are vulnerable communities, indigenous or not, must make an analysis of the vulnerability of these communities living in poverty also in terms of health. And people undernourished is in good condition to face a disaster situation. " For the expert is essential to work with communities to reduce their vulnerability, as the impacts of climate change "will be growing and the worst is yet to come, be prepared."

According to Oviedo, "all countries have a moral obligation to develop national adaptation plans to climate change is urgent that we all do." And in the design of such plans or agreements on climate change, it appears that indigenous peoples, as victims or finding solutions should not be ignored.