Indigenous Peoples

Hotel di Pangandaran - As Indigenous Peoples prepare for the UN Climate Summit in Cancun, Bolivia announced that the climate change efforts of Indigenous Peoples in Cochabamba, Bolivia, resulted in the United Nations establishing a “World Conference on Indigenous Peoples in 2014.”

Native people from the Americas are preparing to travel by caravans, establish tent cities and organize marches in Mexico City and Cancun, for the climate summit, Nov. 29 -- Dec. 10.

Far from being naïve about the official negotiations in Cancun and the opposition of exploiting corporations and governments, Native people are bringing their own media to broadcast their voices to the world.

The Indigenous Environmental Network will broadcast live, by way of Earthcycles, http://www.earthcycles.net . In Cochabamba, IEN exposed the fraud of carbon credits and REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation.) IEN led efforts to protect forests, land, air and water, and uphold sovereign ancestral rights.

Ofelia Rivas, O’odham, is among the grassroots Indigenous Peoples from the US/Mexico border who will take the voices of the people to Cancun. Rivas was cochair of the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Via Campesina announced Indigenous Peoples, farmers and their allies are arriving in Cancun by caravans from throughout Mexico.

Via Campesina’s forum and mega-march takes place in Mexico City on November 30. On December 2 in Cancun, Via Campesina opens the national-international camp of Indigenous Peoples, farmers and their allies. On December 4 to 10, at its camp, is the “Global Forum for the Earth and for our Peoples: Environmental and Social Justice Now!” A mega-march in Cancun takes place on December 7.

Meanwhile, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, said its initiatives with climate change and Indigenous Peoples resulted in the United Nations General Assembly approving by consensus a draft resolution (A/C.3/65/L.22/Rev.1) in which countries agreed to hold a “World Conference on Indigenous Peoples” in 2014.

The Conference, which will take place at the end of the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People (2005 – 2014), aims to exchange criteria for the fulfillment of the objectives of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The resolution aims at solutions to the problems faced by Indigenous Peoples in areas including culture, education, health, human rights, the environment, and socio-economic development.

The UN resolution makes reference to the first World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, organized by the Plurinational State of Bolivia in Cochabamba from April 20th to 22nd, 2010.

President Evo Morales welcomed 35,000 to the conference in Bolivia and the majority were Indigenous Peoples. The 17 working groups produced declarations, including the Peoples Agreement and Declaration of Indigenous Peoples, establishing standards for climate change and the protection of Mother Earth.

The UN resolution was co-sponsored by the following nations: Argentina, Australia, Benin, Cuba, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Upon its adoption, the following were added: the United States, Brazil, New Zealand, Canada, Italy, Estonia, Spain, Albania, Chile, Greece, Congo, Armenia, Croatia, Cyprus, Paraguay and Luxembourg.