Welcome back! For the past few weeks, we have been looking at the environmental crisis together with the countless obstacles indigenous people face in a world where they have been marginalized and left to bear the brunt of the climate emergency and I think it is only right if we discuss what we can do to tackle the predicaments that the environment and indigenous people are facing.
Click: Chart (problems and solutions)
Please note that this diagram mainly highlights the problems faced by indigenous people that are related to the environmental crisis. There are many other difficulties that they face, which I have not talked about, since this blog is about indigenous people and the environment.
I think it is equally important to educate the public about the unfair and grueling situation that indigenous people are in, on top of ensuring that there are sufficient policies in place that protect their rights. Why? Well, although the power seems to lie in the hands of huge industries that back governments (especially corrupt ones) which in turn support them in their unsustainable and unethical agenda, it does not hurt to believe in the power of the people. After all, it is inflamed people who time and again, are able to stand up against domineering entities, to push for justice. It is becoming ever more important to educate, in the face of demagogic politicians such as Jair Bolsonaro (who has spread hoaxes about climate change [1] and indigenous people and has overtly disregarded their rights [2]).
Besides spreading awareness and advocacy, I feel that it is extremely important to acknowledge their Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) (visit my 2nd and 3rd blog posts to learn more) and the possible roles it can play in mitigating the environmental crisis. Also, indigenous people’s close relationship with their natural world has also aided many vital scientific findings. For example, the observations of the contents of seals’ stomachs and the seals’ unusual lack of buoyancy in water, by an Inuit hunter, enabled an oceanographer to proclaim the observations as warning signs of a food-web “flip”. (Normally, this would have taken many years to identify) [3].
Indigenous communities are said to well equipped with relevant knowledge necessary for ecological restoration efforts. Also, since they would experience direct gains from these efforts, they are well suited to participate in them. However their knowledge is said to be ignored in restoration efforts due to the “epistemological authority” in the believes of ecologists [4]. (Although, this is definitely not generalisable)
When the scientific world becomes increasingly cognizant about the value of TEK and indigenous communities are involved in policy making and collaborative efforts with scientists, governments and the rest of the world will begin to recognize them and hopefully, their fight for their rights will be irrelevant in the near future.
The resulting increase in capacity building efforts that arise, will not only empower indigenous communities and improve their rights and welfare, but also that of the Earth.
As illustrated in the diagram above, the wellbeing of indigenous people and that of the environment seem to be interlinked and so in our efforts to protect the environment, it is important for us to take a strong stand against acts of injustice towards indigenous communities.
Cheers,
Divina
References
- FEARNSIDE, P., Why Brazil’s New President Poses an Unprecedented Threat to the Amazon. 2018.https://e360.yale.edu/features/why-brazils-new-president-poses-an-unprecedented-threat-to-the-amazon
- Carvalho, M.L.C.a.A., Bolsonaro’s Plan to Legalize Crimes Against Indigenous Peoples. 2020.https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/01/bolsonaros-plan-legalize-crimes-against-indigenous-peoples
- Huntington, H.P., The local perspective. Nature, 2011. 478(7368): p. 182-183.https://www.nature.com/articles/478182a#citeas
- Reyes-García, V., et al., The contributions of Indigenous Peoples and local communities to ecological restoration. Restoration Ecology, 2019. 27(1): p. 3-8. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/rec.12894
Dude, this is awesome.