Effects of Climate Change on Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous peoples’ right to food, clean water, adequate housing, respect for their traditional land rights, preservation of their culture and self-determined development as stated in the Declaration of Human Rights must be paid proper attention to. These rights are being acutely threatened, above all, by climate change caused primarily by industrialized countries. Instead of involving indigenous peoples in decisons about international climate policy and reducing carbon dioxide emission drastically, many corporations and governments yearn for what they perceive to be advantages of climate change, e.g. an ice-free Arctic. In this regard, climate change must be considered a new type of human rights violation.

Pastoralists suffering from East African drought

Nomadic herders in East Africa, like the Turkana people who have long been struggling with poverty, lost their cattle in the dramatic drought in East Africa in 2006. The famine claimed many human lives, especially children who were already malnourished. These people are still under the threat of starvation. The pastoralist communities suffer the most. As resources dwindle, fighting over scarce resources becomes common. Pastoralists have also severely suffered from the recent food shortage. Taking into consideration that climate change will continue, nomadic indigenous peoples are threatened in their very existence. Insecurity and frequent droughts are reinforcing the cycle of marginalisation and poverty to which the Turkana are exposed.

Destruction of the Arctic

In the Arctic, climate change happens two to three times faster than the global average.

Indigenous peoples on several continents living in the Arctic, such as the Saami in Lappland, the Evenks in Siberia, the Yup’ik and Gwich’ in Alaska as well as the Inuit in Greenland, are already suffering from severe effects of climate change. Many animals in the arctic have changed their migration routes in search of new feeding grounds on account of changes in the climate in the Arctic, and hunting for the indigenous peoples is often not possible because of the breaking-up of the ice. Seals, walruses and polar bears suffer from lack of food and are threatened with extinction. The supply of freshwater fish is also declining, so that tens of thousands of indigenous people are losing their means of sustenance. Furthermore, the food they are able to obtain is more and more contaminated, so that in Greenland, for instance, mothers are advised not to breastfeed their infants any longer. Whole communities must be resettled as a result of coastal erosion and storms. These massive changes are without precedent in the long history of these indigenous peoples.

Global warming is also effecting access to oil and natural gas reserves and other resources that are being exploited by companies of the industrialized world. It is estimated that approximiately one quarter of the world’s reserves of raw oil and natural gas that have not yet been tapped are to be found in the Arctic. In Siberia, for example, the reckless extraction of oil and gas has poisoned whole rivers and lakes, and led to highly increased air pollution. Many native people are consequently forced to give up their way of living, which relies on these resources. Unemployment and alcoholism rates in these communities are on the rise, as well as diseases such as tuberculosis and cancer. Life expectancy among native peoples is 20 years below Russian standard. And the search for new areas where oil and gas can be extracted continues, putting 3,500 Nivches, Nanai, Orokes and Ewenks living on the Sachalin island in acute danger. A new pipeline would cut through 1,103 rivers and creeks as well as through important grazing ground for reindeer. Furthermore, the area is earthquake-prone, and leaks on the pipeline or oil accidents would have terrible consequences for the ecosystem.

Society for Threatened Peoples is deeply concerned about the attempts of nation states bordering the Arctic to extend their territorial waters in order to secure control over the lucrative natural resources.

Society for Threatened Peoples calls on the Human Rights Council to:

consider the impacts of climate change as a human rights violation and identify indigenous peoples as particularly vulnerable and directly harmed by its effects;

continue its work on legally binding guidelines and mechanisms aimed at guaranteeing the accountability of the companies concerned;

make sure that the industrial countries of the world mitigate their CO2 emissions and respect the basic human rights of the indigenous peoples, their traditional culture, land rights, and their rights to food and clean water.

assure that indigenous peoples are adequately involved in international decisions concerning climate change. The G-8 states, the states bordering the Arctic and the energy companies operating in the Arctic and Sub-arctic must ensure that indigenous peoples are enabled to participate adequately in all decisions having an impact on their lives.

call upon the international state community to support indigenous peoples in coping with the effects of climate change by creating aid funds and a commission of experts, including international, local experts and indigenous representatives. Indigenous knowledge must be of vital importance in meeting and evaluating the consequences of climate change.