Indigenous Peoples, Climate Change and the Right to Self Determination

By CORDILLERA PEOPLE’S ALLIANCE-PUBLIC INFORMATION CAMPAIGN
www.nordis.net

Such arrogance to speak of owning the land.
How can you own that which shall outlive you?

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KALINGA COMMUNAL FOREST. Community sustained forests are among those threathened by large-scale-mining applications covering 70% of the Cordillera land area. Nordis file photo

Land is life,  What is the most precious thing to man? Life. If life is threatened, what ought a man do?  Resist. This he must do,  otherwise he is dishonored  and that is worse than death.
 
-Macliing Dulag, Kalinga pangat (elder and leader of the Butbut tribe from Kalinga, Cordillera, Philippines who was slain by State military forces on April 24, 1980 because of his leadership  in the successful opposition to the World-Bank funded Chico Dams.

These are the words of the Cordillera martyr Macliing Dulag that sharply articulate the militant tradition of indigenous peoples’ worldview and struggle for land, Mother Earth and life. Integral in the historic Cordillera peoples’ struggle for the defense of land, life and resources is the battle against global warming and climate change in essence.
 
The world is currently caught in the debate on climate change and its alarming impacts, and  mitigation and adaptation strategies have been forwarded. Climate change is a big environmental concern  yet there is still a need  to elevate the issue of climate change   beyond the bounds of environmental issues. It must be understood that in this issue, there are exploiters and there are victims. It must be understood that there is disproportionate vulnerability of the majority and certain populations to the adverse impacts of climate change, of which indigenous peoples are very much included.
 
The climate crisis is best understood by acknowledging its systemic root causes and the accountability of the world capitalist system driven by the few global elite and imperialist countries and the globally dominated capitalist production and exploitation of the world’s environment and resources. Imperialist and advance capitalist countries have imposed neo-liberal policies in advancing their imperialist agenda and plunder especially in underdeveloped countries, leading  to the destruction of the world’s resources for their profit and greed.  This greed  for profit  is responsible for the operation of large-scale extractive industries  which is responsible for the large-scale emission of greenhouse gases   in some countries like  the Philippines, India, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, to name a few.
 
In any debate, discussion or policy formulation on climate change, indigenous peoples should be involved because they deserve specific attention being a vulnerable population  in this issue.  If only government’s and imperialist States heeded indigenous peoples’ world view of  the Earth, land and  its resources, we may not have reached this alarming state of global warming and climate change. States and capitalists’ viewpoint contradicts with indigenous peoples’ world view of land and the Earth.  To indigenous peoples, land is life and must thus be nourished, nurtured and defended.   Capitalists on the other hand treat land as a commodity for profit, and nothing else.  If the best environmentalists and defenders  of the Earth  should be named, these are the indigenous peoples as proven by their time-tested practice of sustainable living and culture.
 
While we welcome mitigation and adaptation measures   on climate change, these do not  seriously  address the root causes of the climate crisis and only serves as temporary relief.  Any solution to climate change must be seen not at the expense  of indigenous peoples but instead at the framework of indigenous peoples’ right to self determination and people’s sovereignty over their patrimony and resources.
 
We can come up with as much mitigation and adaptation strategies, but the gravity of the situation dictates an overhaul of the world capitalist system  and a stop to the imposition of neo-liberal policies  in underdeveloped countries.  We must take note that economic and material growth are limited to the Earth’s endowed resources. We must respect the limits of the Earth;  the needs of the people and the planet must take precedent   over the push for growth and profits.  
 
The climate change crisis, its end-result of catastrophic proportions especially to the least contributors  if  they are contributors at all, is also a political issue. Addressing it necessitates people’s assertion of their sovereign rights and control over their resources and participation in the processes  of local and global response to  climate change,  where indigenous peoples must be involved.  Addressing climate change must recognize and respect indigenous peoples’ right to self determination as enshrined  in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
 
Thus, people’s struggles and movements for the assertion to land and resources must be strengthened and they must mobilize in their greatest number to put a stop to the capitalist and imperialist activities  that worsen climate change.  The people themselves can chart their own solutions  in overhauling the profit-driven  world capitalist system for humanity’s survival, which depends on the Earth’s survival.  States and all international financial institutions and international bodies must stop implementing and supporting policies, projects and any  other undertaking what  is environmentally destructive and worsens global warming and climate change.
 
They should  instead support actions that   strengthen sustainable adaptation and mitigation measures including science and technology just as long as these are appropriate and respects indigenous peoples’ rights.  All States and governments should also repeal laws and policies that hasten and worsen  climate change and its impacts, such as the Mining Act of 1995 in the Philippines and instead  formulate and implement laws that protect the environment and indigenous peoples  to mitigate climate change.
 
As rights holders, indigenous peoples must be part of such a movement that shall hold accountable     imperialists States and their transnational corporations, because addressing the problem of climate change is also a quest for social justice and self determination. # nordis.net