THE WISDOM OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES ON CARE OF THE PLANET
Despite being only 6% of the population, they care for 80% of the world’s biodiversity. We are talking about the wisdom of indigenous peoples.
The wisdom of indigenous peoples is a great source of sustainable knowledge. Their songs, stories and ancestral customs echo the secrets of a deep and respectful relationship with nature, a relationship that has managed to maintain the delicate balance between man and earth. However, as climate change heats up the horizon, these guardians of nature find themselves on the front line of defense, experiencing firsthand the devastating consequences of this global crisis.
What will I read in this article?
• The vulnerability and resilience of indigenous peoples
• Sustainability lessons from indigenous peoples
The vulnerability and resilience of indigenous peoples to climate change
According to United Nations estimates, there are 476 million members of indigenous peoples in all regions of the planet. Despite constituting only 6.2% of the world’s population, indigenous peoples manage 22% of the planet’s land, making them custodians of nearly 80% of the world’s biodiversity.
This close relationship with the land and dependence on natural resources makes them especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Contradictorily, they are the ones who have contributed nothing to global warming and those who can do the most to curb emissions and help us adapt to it.
“Despite constituting only 6.2% of the world’s population, indigenous peoples manage 22% of the planet’s land.”
Prolonged droughts, floods and violent storms directly affect their livelihoods. Many of these indigenous peoples depend on subsistence farming, hunting and fishing, activities that are threatened by the climate crisis. In addition, conflicts linked to extractive industries, such as deforestation in the Amazon, further exacerbate their vulnerability.
These conflicts often result in the usurpation of indigenous peoples’ ancestral lands, and the degradation and loss of ecosystems they have protected for millennia. However, they survive and thrive, demonstrating enormous resilience, the fruit of wisdom and knowledge acquired from generation to generation.
Despite having developed sustainable and environmentally friendly practices for centuries, they are often excluded or ignored in global discussions on climate change. And more than that, they are also attacked. According to a report by Global Witness, indigenous peoples account for one third of all environmental defenders killed worldwide.
Their knowledge and experience can be crucial to finding effective and sustainable solutions. That is why this summer, Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, stressed the need to create more spaces such as the Expert Mechanism for indigenous peoples to participate in the work of the United Nations, including the Human Rights Council, thus ensuring that they can be part of decision-making on matters that affect them through representatives elected by them according to their procedures.
Sustainability lessons from indigenous peoples
Protection and care of biodiversity: according to El País, forests in indigenous territories not only contain greater biodiversity, but also capture twice as much carbon as they release, absorbing around 7.6 billion tons of CO2 each year thanks to the fact that their vegetation is in better condition.
• Adaptive and sustainable agriculture: indigenous peoples are able to cultivate in extreme environments, such as in the high areas of the Andes or the dry pastures of Kenya. As stated by the FAO, their techniques are very effective. They use terraces to avoid soil erosion or floating gardens to take advantage of flooded fields. A strategy that we can adapt to replicate in those places where meteorological phenomena are increasingly extreme due to climate change.
• Conserve and restore natural resources: indigenous peoples have been adapting their lifestyle for centuries to integrate and respect the environment. In the mountains, they look for ways to preserve the soil, reduce erosion, conserve water and limit the risk of disasters. On the grasslands, they manage cattle grazing and agriculture sustainably to preserve biodiversity. In the Amazon, the biodiversity of ecosystems is enhanced when they are inhabited by indigenous peoples.
It is essential that the rights of indigenous peoples are respected, including their right to participate in decision-making that affects them. In addition, the international community must work to ensure that they have access to the information and resources necessary to adapt to and resist climate change.
Although indigenous peoples are a small portion of the world’s population, they play a fundamental role in protecting the environment and combating climate change. Recognizing and supporting their efforts is essential for our common future.