Indigenous peoples and their rights.

• Author: Nuttall, Mark
• Position: Livelihoods In Peril

Inuit hunters in northern Greenland are treading carefully on increasingly thinning ice, while at the same time the key marine species they depend on--seals, walrus, narwhals and polar bears--are moving away from the areas in which they are traditionally hunted, as they in turn respond to changes in local ecosystems. In the high ranges of the Himalaya, Sherpa, Tamang, Kiranti, Dolpali and other indigenous groups are witnessing the melting of glaciers; the same is true in other mountain regions of the world such as the Peruvian Andes, where the indigenous Quechua report that they are worried when they look at the receding glaciers on their mountain peaks. In the Kalahari Desert, the San have learnt to deal with the periodic but all-too-frequent occurrence and experience of hunger and poverty arising from a combination of economic, political, environmental and climatic events. The San, like other indigenous peoples, have had to devise ingenious strategies to cope with environmental change and its consequences, yet they are reporting that the character of such change is now different than many remember. All over the world, indigenous peoples are confronted with unprecedented climate change affecting their homelands, cultures and livelihoods.

Indigenous peoples depend on natural resources for their livelihoods and they often inhabit diverse but fragile ecosystems. At the same time, many indigenous peoples remain among the world's most marginalized, impoverished and vulnerable peoples. They may be amongst those who have contributed the least to the greenhouse gas emissions that characterize anthropogenic climate change, yet they bear the brunt of the climate crisis and they often have minimal access to the resources and political and institutional support needed to cope with the changes. They have to navigate their way across the dramatically shifting environments of their homelands and to comprehend and find effective strategies that will allow them to respond to the changes happening--from the diminishing sea ice and reduced snowfall now characterizing the Arctic regions, to receding glaciers in high altitude regions, to increased coastal erosion and rising sea levels, to reduced rainfall in temperate ecosystems and increased fires in tropical rainforests.

Regional and global scientific assessments, such as the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment, have stated...