IMPLEMENTING THE DECLARATION OF THE

 60TH ANNUAL DPI/NGO CONFERENCE

IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

AND THEIR RESPONSES TO ITS EFFECTS

CO-COORDINATORS: 

Moki Kokoris – Chapter Coordinator-in-Chief 

Department of Public Information Representative for the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations; 1^st woman of Ukrainian descent (14^th woman) to reach the North Pole (2003); Member National of the Explorers Club; Founder of 90-north.com – a traveling in-classroom environmental educational program; Arctic Editor of “The Polar Times” (journal of the American Polar Society); Visiting Speaker for ARCUS (Arctic Research Consortium of the United States); Presenter at the Will Steger International Institute of Climate Change Education; Graduate of The Cooper Union School of Architecture; graphic artist, illustrator, and private piano teacher. 

Affiliations: North American Association of Environmental Education, American Polar Society, International Polar Year – Education & Outreach Program, Byrd Polar Research Center, American Himalayan Foundation, Will Steger Foundation – Global Warming 101, Jane Goodall Foundation, Polar Bears International, Ukrainian Scouts, Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund, Guiding Eyes for the Blind, Society of Scribes. 

Contact Information: 600 Barrack Hill Road, Ridgefield CT 06877 – Moki@cloud9.net 

Stephen Sachs - Coordinating Editor of Indigenous Policy (at: www.indigenouspolicy.org), since 2000, and was Coordinator of the Indigenous Studies Association, IPJ’s publisher (1999-2006). IPJ  reports regularly on environmental issues impacting Indigenous people, and on their actions relating to combating environmental degradation. 

A political scientist and applied philosopher involved with public policy. Taught environmental and energy policy.  Focused heavily on Indigenous research since the 1980’s and have written numerous articles and papers in that field, including, "The Cutting Edge of Physics: Western Science Is Finally Catching Up with American Indian Tradition," Proceedings of the Western Social Science Association, American Indian Studies Section, 2007, published in Indigenous Policy, summer 2007; and “Climate Change, Related Environmental Degradation and Indigenous People,” Indigenous Policy, Vol. XVIII, No. 3, Fall 2007.  

Contact Information: Professor Emeritus of Political Science, IUPUI, 1916 San Pedro Dr. NE , Albuquerque , NM 87110 ssachs@earthlink.net, (505)265-9388.
 

Even though indigenous peoples contribute little to the anthropogenic causes of climate change, it is they who are among the first to face its consequences because their lifestyles are directly dependent on their environment and its resources. Climate change poses threats and dangers to the survival of indigenous communities worldwide, and yet, it should be noted that because indigenous peoples are active in the ecosystems of their lands and territories, their traditional knowledge is therefore critical in finding creative solutions which may help society as a whole to cope with the impending changes. 

• Stephen Sachs

• Moki Kokoris

• Will Steger Foundation http://www.willstegerfoundation.org/

• Global Warming 101  http://www.globalwarming101.com

• Arctic Council   http://www.arctic-council.org/

• EALAT - Reindeer Herders Vulnerability Network Study

•       http://arcticportal.org/en/icr/icr-projects/ealat-information

• ICC – Inuit Circumpolar Council  http://www.inuit.org/

• RAIPON – Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples Of the North   

•       http://raipon.org/Default.aspx?alias=raipon.org/english

• Saami Council http://www.saamicouncil.net/?deptid=1113

• University of Tromso Center for Sami Studies http://www.sami.uit.no/sdg/senteret/indexen.html

OBJECTIVE:

 The objectives of this declaration mandated report, specifically this chapter, are to create and provide a collaborative vehicle to:  

• Assess critical risks to indigenous communities, focusing on economic, social, environmental and security issues, and to establish needs and priorities for information and action; 

• Assess the specific vulnerabilities of individual local indigenous community infrastructures, to develop an action plan with suitable options, and to incorporate climate considerations in future infrastructure planning; 

• Stimulate debate and encourage indigenous peoples, small island communities, and other aboriginal groups living in vulnerable environments to collect, document and share their observations and experiences of climate change impacts, as well as their efforts to cope and adapt to sea level rise, climate variability, the increased intensity and frequency of extreme climatic events, accelerated melting of circumpolar or high altitude snow and ice, and other climate change related events; 

• Present them in a manner that will be effectively heard by governments and organizations involved in decision-making in those regions; 

• Work with aboriginal leaders and organizations to develop options and plans for addressing the cultural and social impact of climate change and assist in identifying adaptation solutions, resources and tools available to them. 

• Review existing policies and legislation, including land claims and implementation plans, as well as indigenous dimensions of international initiatives, to identify major gaps and options for addressing climate change policies; 

• Raise awareness, and develop and disseminate information and knowledge on climate change impacts affecting indigenous communities in the context of overconsumption of resources (particularly energy, food and water) and their rising scarcity, compounded by excessive population growth and other related environmental changes; 

• Develop local capability to plan and implement adaptation in diverse sectors of community management in a manner that increases overall adaptive capacity and resiliency to climate change impacts. 

• Develop management frameworks to integrate adaptation in policy, planning, and decision-making. 

• Assist in developing strategies to legally contest invasion of indigenous lands for the purposes of exploitation resulting from resource scarcity.

The strategies and recommendations seek to achieve the following objectives and activities:

1. Develop seasonal and regular summits (webcast and archived) where all participating indigenous peoples will: 

• Consolidate, exchange, share and draw lessons from the views and experiences of other indigenous peoples around the world of the impacts and effects of climate change on lifestyles and their natural environment, including responses and adaptation tactics;

• Raise the visibility, participation and role of indigenous peoples in local, national, regional and international processes in formulating strategies and partnerships that engage local communities and other stakeholders to respond to the impacts of climate change;

• Analyze, discuss and promote public awareness of the impacts and consequences of programs and proposals for climate change mitigation and adaptation, and assess proposed solutions;

• Advocate effective response strategies taking into account the perspectives of the cultures, worldviews, and traditional knowledge as well as local, national, regional and international rights-based approaches;

• Engage these groups in the development of a science, research and implementation infrastructure.

2. Seek a Post Kyoto-2012 process that addresses the following: 

• International cooperation to support urgent action on adaptation;

• Specific means to address loss and damage associated with climate change impacts in vulnerable indigenous communities;

• Enhanced action on technology transfer and development for adaptation;

• Risk sharing and transfer mechanisms such as insurance;

• Innovative funding approaches to assist particularly vulnerable developing countries in meeting the costs of adaptation;

• Investment in research and monitoring programs through various local initiatives and observational networks.

 3. Facilitate indigenous participation in and input to key international processes and work programs related to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol and others by: 

• Developing specific case studies on local coping strategies and mechanisms for inclusion in the UNFCCC database created under the Nairobi Work Program on Vulnerability and  Adaptation to Climate Change;

• Calling upon the IPCC to develop a future assessment on climate change and indigenous peoples and the important role of traditional knowledge in forming policy decisions;

• Working with the research community, local indigenous communities, governments, relevant organizations, United Nations Environment Program, the World Bank and international NGOs to encourage appropriate climate change decision-making.

• Developing domestic and international indigenous community communication and education strategies on the impacts, adaptive capacity and mitigation methods appropriate to specific regions.