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An indigenous solution to deforestation in the Amazon
Author: Liz Kimbrough“If the forest is still standing, it is thanks to the presence of indigenous peoples. And today, this is the most important mission of our planet. Because it is a mission that not only guarantees our lives but guarantees the lives of all people,” Txai Suruí, activist of the Paiter Suruí people and coordinator of the Indigenous youth movement of Rondônia, Brazil, said in a recent statement.
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Why Indigenous languages Matter
The International Decade on Indigenous Languages 2022–2032
Languages are one of the most significant emblems of human diversity, revealing how we can perceive, relate to, and understand the world differently. Languages are vehicles of our cultures, collective memory and values. They are an essential component of our identities. Out of the 6,700 languages spoken worldwide, forty percent are in danger of disappearing. Indigenous Peoples make up less than 6 percent of the global population, yet they speak more than 4,000 of the world’s languages. Most of the languages that are under threat are Indigenous languages. This dilemma is human-made and is exacerbated by ongoing assimilationist policies, social pressure, demographic change and the emphasis on a homogeneous nation State model that shares one culture and one language. The loss of global language diversity has been greatly accelerated by colonization and globalization. Other significant factors in the erosion of Indigenous languages are the dispossession of lands, territories and resources; repression and assimilation; genocide and shrinking ageing communities in which language is not passed to next generations.
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Indigenous Peoples: Informed Custodiansof Biodiversity
Authors: Peter Bates and Prasert TrakansuphakonThe Karen inhabitants of the village of Hin Lad Nai, nestled in the lush forests of Chiang Rai province in northern Thailand, have practised rotational shifting cultivation for centuries. This sustainable slash-and-burn cultivation technique – once mistakenly criticized for contributing to climate change – has been used around the world to regenerate the land and support biodiversity.
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Challenges and Opportunities for Indigenous Peoples’ Sustainability
Climate change, deforestation, pollution, development and loss of diversity are serious threats to indigenous peoples due to their dependence on the environment and the resources of the lands and territories. It causes the loss of traditional knowledge, disintegrating traditional governance structures and their cultures. This policy briefing provides examples of the holistic perspective of indigenous peoples on resource governance, land rights, mitigation of climate change impact on their environment and resilience-building through the use of their traditional knowledge. It also highlights the benefit of indigenous peoples' full participation, in particular, indigenous women in decision-making processes to prevent conflict. It notes the importance of upholding the rights of indigenous peoples as enshrined in international law and full respect for the right of indigenous peoples decision to not to engage in the global economy. Further, it points to the need to promote dialogue among indigenous peoples, local communities, scientists, including meteorologists and climate experts, policymakers and other relevant actors, to enable co-production of knowledge, and sharing of sustainable strategies to overcome risks and strengthen resilience to climate change.
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State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
Rights to Lands, Territories and Resources
This publication offers a wide-ranging perspective on indigenous peoples’ rights to lands, territories and resources, examining legislation and agreements at the national and international level, identifying successful practices and continued obstacles, and suggesting ways forward. Adopted in 2007, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples positions the right to self-determination and collective rights to lands, territories and resources at its core. Previously two of the most politically charged issues under negotiation, the right to self-determination and the right to natural resources on indigenous lands and territories remain politicized more than 10 years later. Specifically addressed in Articles 25 through 32, indigenous peoples’ relationship to their land, territory and resources is at the heart of their identity, well-being and culture, while preservation of the environment, transmitted through generations of traditional knowledge, is at the center of their existence. As the world increasingly recognizes the negative impacts of climate change and environmental degradation to health, food security and overall peace and security, the importance of indigenous knowledge and territorial rights is becoming more widely acknowledged. Moreover, the 2030 Agenda’s integrated approach to economic, environmental and social development within a human rights framework gives space to demonstrate how indigenous stewardship of lands, territories and resources can achieve accelerated action towards implementation of several Sustainable Development Goals.
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Indigenous peoples: Vulnerable, yet resilient
Author: Minnie DegawanThe global health crisis has highlighted the resilience of some indigenous communities. But above all, it has revealed the fragility of these populations – whose poverty, malnutrition and poor access to health care makes them particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases.
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The Impact of COVID-19 on Indigenous Peoples
Authors: United Nations and Rosemary LaneIndigenous peoples in many regions have a long history of devastation from epidemics brought by colonizers, from the arrival of the first Europeans in the Americas who brought smallpox and influenza to a measles outbreak among the Yanonami of Brazil and Southern Venezuela in the 1950s/60s that nearly decimated the tribe (Pringle, 2015). COVID-19 (coronavirus) presents a new threat to the health and survival of indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples in nearly all countries fall into the most “vulnerable” health category. They have significantly higher rates of communicable and non-communicable diseases than their non-indigenous counterparts, high mortality rates and lower life expectancies. Contributing factors that increase the potential for high mortality rates caused by COVID-19 in indigenous communities include mal – and under-nutrition, poor access to sanitation, lack of clean water, and inadequate medical services. Additionally, indigenous peoples often experience widespread stigma and discrimination in healthcare settings such as stereotyping and a lack of quality in the care provided, thus compromising standards of care and discouraging them from accessing health care, if and when available.
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State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Author: United NationsOn 13 September 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It marked the culmination of decades of struggle among indigenous peoples for a universal framework establishing minimum standards to ensure the survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world. This publication looks back at ten-plus years of the Declaration’s existence—more than ten years both of implementation and progress and of unfulfilled expectations.
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Radio: A lifeline for indigenous peoples
Authors: Avexnim Cojti and Agnes PortalewskaAs the preferred media for defending the rights of indigenous peoples, community radio stations are not necessarily easily accessible, in spite of commitments made by the state. Many indigenous radio stations have no option but to operate illegally.
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Wide angle: Indigenous languages: Knowledge and hope
Author: Minnie DegawanFor indigenous peoples, languages not only identify their origin or membership in a community, they also carry the ethical values of their ancestors – the indigenous knowledge systems that make them one with the land and are crucial to their survival and to the hopes and aspirations of their youth.
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State of the World's Indigenous Peoples
Education
Author: United NationsAt its first session, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) requested the United Nations System to produce a report on the state of the world’s indigenous peoples (SOWIP). The first edition covered all six thematic areas of the Forum’s mandate (Economic and social development, Culture, Environment, Education, Health and Human rights. The second edition focused on Indigenous Peoples’ Access to Health Services. This third edition of SOWIP provides a comprehensive overview of the current achievements and challenges facing indigenous peoples centred on the theme of education. The report is evidence-based, through seven chapters that will depict the situation in the seven socio-cultural regions determined to give broad representation of the world’s indigenous peoples (Africa; Arctic; Asia; Central and South America and the Caribbean; Central and Eastern Europe, Russian Federation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia; North America; and the Pacific).
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State of the World's Indigenous Peoples
Indigenous Peoples' Access to Health Services
Author: United NationsThis publication sets out to examine the major challenges for indigenous peoples to obtain adequate access to and utilization of quality health care services. It provides an important background to many of the health issues that indigenous peoples are currently facing. Improving indigenous peoples’ health remains a critical challenge for indigenous peoples, States and the United Nations. Indigenous peoples’ health status is severely affected by their living conditions, income levels, employment rates, access to safe water, sanitation, health services and food availability. They also face destruction to their lands, territories and resources, which are essential to their very survival. Other threats include climate change and environmental contamination. Geographical isolation and poverty results in not having the means to pay high cost for transport or treatment resulting in major structural barriers in accessing health care, further compounded by discrimination, racism and a lack of cultural understanding and sensitivity. Many health systems do not reflect the social and cultural practices and beliefs of indigenous peoples. At the same time, it is often difficult to obtain a global assessment of indigenous peoples’ health status because of the lack of data. More work is required in building existing data collection systems to include data on indigenous peoples and their communities.This study examines issues, progress and challenges in efforts to improve the safety and wellbeing of motorcycle riders through the use of approved motorcycle helmets. The growth in motorcycles is accompanied by an increase in serious and fatal accidents. Evidence shows that once internationally harmonized helmet regulations, such as the UN Regulation No. 22 type-approval system for helmets, are in place and laws on helmet wearing are enforced, these trends tend to reverse. In examining the relationship of income growth and national motorcycle fleet expansion, this study argues the socio-economic case for introduction of helmet regulations and their enforcement by delivering a benefit-cost analysis of taking such legislative actions.
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State of the World's Indigenous Peoples
Author: United NationsWhile indigenous peoples make up around 370 million of the world’s population – some 5 per cent – they constitute around one-third of the world’s 900 million extremely poor rural people. Every day, indigenous communities all over the world face issues of violence and brutality. Indigenous peoples are stewards of some of the most biologically diverse areas of the globe, and their biological and cultural wealth has allowed indigenous peoples to gather a wealth of traditional knowledge which is of immense value to all humankind. The publication discusses many of the issues addressed by the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and is a cooperative effort of independent experts working with the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. It covers poverty and well-being, culture, environment, contemporary education, health, human rights, and includes a chapter on emerging issues.
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