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Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Seventh Session
New York, 21 April
– 2 May 2008
Agenda Item 3: CLIMATE CHANGE
JOINT STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF
- Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action (FAIRA)
- National Native Title Council
- Murray Lower Darling River Indigenous Nations (MLDRIN)
- Indigenous Peoples Organisation Network Youth Delegation
- Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre
- North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA)
- Menzies School of Health Research
- National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (NACCHO)
- New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC)
- University of New South Wales, Indigenous Law Centre
- Office of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner
- National Indigenous Higher Education Network
Thank you Madam Chair.
This intervention is made on behalf of a number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations from Australia, present at this Forum.
We begin by applauding the prompt signing of the Kyoto Protocol by the newly elected Australian government and its stated intention to formally indicate its support for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples in the near future. Both provide a platform for addressing climate change.
Madam Chair, climate change raises distinct challenges for Indigenous peoples, our cultures and our lands and resources. It poses a threat to the health, cultures and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples. This occurs in coastal and flood prone areas, salt inundation of freshwater supplies, changes to mangroves and fire regimes, coastal erosion and rising sea levels as well as for those Indigenous communities affected by long term drought and desertification, among other impacts.
In south-eastern Australia for example the Murray-Darling Basin is under severe ecological stress. Urgent action is required to arrest this decline and restore vital ecosystems before the entire river basin becomes agriculturally barren and/or uninhabitable. There are strong indications of population shifts out of the Basin and significant adverse affects on Indigenous peoples’ access to Country and cultural economy. A vital part of any response to climate change must include justice around water including adequate water allocations for cultural and economic purposes.
In addition the Torres Strait Islands are also currently experiencing climate change impacts specifically through rising sea levels. Torres Strait Islander culture is intimately connected to their sea country and being engaged in traditional cultural practices is rooted in their environment.
Extreme weather events and sea level rise threatens land and personal property. Changing climatic patterns affect the viability of food and water sources which impact directly on the life and health of Indigenous people, and associated intergenerational transfer of knowledge. Cultural heritage and traditional knowledge may also be lost or devalued as a result of climate change.
The dietary health of Aboriginal communities, are also predicted to suffer as the plants and animals that make up our traditional diets could be at risk of extinction through climate change. Aboriginal communities are particularly at risk from water-borne and vector-borne diseases especially in the northern parts of Australia.
A further major challenge in addressing climate change is to ensure that economic and technical resources are available to Indigenous communities to respond to the social and environmental challenges created by climate change.
Madam Chairperson, Indigenous peoples in Australia own and manage a significant proportion of Australian land and waters, and thereby play a crucial role in climate change mitigation measures. Australia’s Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) and other indigenous owned or managed land covers 120 million hectares or roughly 16 per cent of Australia’s land mass, much of it in remote parts of the continent. Our involvement is therefore critical to effectively responding to climate change.
In northern Australia, Indigenous people are pursuing opportunities around greenhouse gas abatement through the mitigation of uncontrolled and unmanaged wildfire, which currently represents the primary contributor of greenhouse gas emissions across the north. This approach enables Indigenous peoples to exercise their customary obligations and rights to care for country; it provides economic opportunities, provides options to stem the migration of people to urban centres, supports the intergenerational transfer of knowledge as well as the maintenance and continuity of culture and identity.
We believe that all efforts to address climate change should:
- seek to maximize opportunities and involvement arising from climate change
that are driven and developed by Indigenous communities;
- respect for Indigenous cultural knowledge and law in the design of climate
change measures; and
- ensure the full participation of Indigenous peoples in the design and
delivery of measures to mitigate the impacts of climate change, so as to ensure
that such measures do not contribute to the further dispossession of Indigenous
people from our land and resources, or impact adversely on the cultural
traditions, languages, traditional knowledge and traditional food sources of
Indigenous communities.
Madam Chair, we commend to the Permanent Forum the outcomes and recommendations of the Darwin workshop on climate change which provides detailed guidance on ensuring Indigenous perspectives on climate change are fully acknowledged.
We also note that the Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples contains many provisions of direct relevance and importance in developing climate change responses in collaboration with Indigenous peoples. In particular we note Articles 20, 23, 25, 29 and 32. We recommend that:
- That the United Nations Permanent Forum urge States to fully endorse and adopt the recommendations from the United Nations International Expert Meeting on Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change in Darwin, Australia, April 2008.
- That the United Nations Permanent Forum develop a mechanism through which governments can monitor and report on the impacts of climate change on Indigenous peoples, mindful of our socio-economic limitations, and spiritual attachment to lands and waters.
- That the United Nations Permanent Forum urges all States to endorse and give full meaning to the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
