{"id":585,"date":"2018-12-04T22:20:30","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T22:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/?p=585"},"modified":"2022-03-09T21:39:18","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T21:39:18","slug":"the-implications-of-mitigation-and-adaptation-approaches-and-climate-funds-for-indigenous-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/2018\/12\/04\/the-implications-of-mitigation-and-adaptation-approaches-and-climate-funds-for-indigenous-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"The Implications of Mitigation and Adaptation Approaches and Climate Funds for Indigenous Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

This afternoon, I attended two extremely interesting side events that focused on incorporating Indigenous rights in the language and implementation of the\u00a0Katowice Rulebook (the goal\u00a0of this COP is to\u00a0establish this Rulebook to actually implement the commitments set forth in the Paris Agreement). The first event, titled “Realizing the Vision of Paris: Incorporating Rights in the Implementation Guidelines,”\u00a0consisted of panel members from the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Earthjustice, Women’s Empowerment and Development Organization (WEDO), Amnesty International, and Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP).<\/p>\n

The most impactful speaker in my opinion was a man representing AIPP, who emphasized how Indigenous Peoples face impacts from not only climate change, but also the mitigation and adaptation measures designed to address it. One example is\u00a0the expansion of protected areas — a measure designed to protect forests and their crucial role as carbon sinks. While seemingly wonderful, in acquiring additional land to\u00a0expand the reach of protected areas, this approach displaces Indigenous Peoples and strips them of their access to ancestral lands and culturally significant resources.<\/p>\n

One of my greatest passions with respect to environmental protection and social justice is the exact issue of how conservation initiatives affect Indigenous Peoples. While I have previously focused a great deal on this in terms of existing national parks and protected areas, I had not thought about these issues in terms of the climate-related expansion of these initiatives\u00a0 It was eye-opening to learn about the flaws\u00a0and inequity of seemingly good solutions to the climate crisis, and this event really expanded my\u00a0understanding and altered my perspective of currently proposed mitigation and adaptation initiatives, including REDD+ and other carbon offset schemes.<\/p>\n

After this panel, I went to another side event, titled “Megadrivers, Climate Funds, and Indigenous Peoples.” This event\u00a0was organized by representatives from several Indigenous Peoples organizations in Peru. Each of the speakers emphasized the urgency of the challenges that they are facing in the Amazon and\u00a0how integral it is to maintain and ensure Indigenous control of their territories. This event detailed several climate funds that exist in the Amazon, including the DGM, FCPF, FIP, ONU REDD, and DCI. The panelists discussed the current problems that exist with respect to these funds, including the prioritization of state mediation, the lack of inclusion of Indigenous Peoples in these conversations, and the state’s continued support for extractive industries and anti-climate investments (i.e., agribusiness, hydrocarbons, mining, wood felling). The panelists then discussed some experiences and achievements of Indigenous Peoples with respect to land titling, reduced deforestation due to resistance to extractivism, investment in Indigenous economies with standings forests, and Indigenous REDD+. The event concluded by proposing Indigenous alternatives on climate finance, which highlighted the importance of territorial organizations and learning from previous Indigenous-centered successes.<\/p>\n

Another interesting thing to note about this event is that it was entirely in Spanish, which I found very\u00a0exciting and powerful because most other side events are held in English; it was\u00a0clear that this event was\u00a0focused on the people\u00a0who it was trying to reach, and in asserting the rights (and language) of the panelists, rather than submitting to the sense of Western, English, and American superiority\u00a0that is so pervasive at these negotiations.<\/p>\n

Coming out of today, I am extremely interested in learning more about just and viable alternative approaches to mitigating and adapting to climate change without perpetuating colonialism and human rights violations with respect to Indigenous Peoples, as well as how such mechanisms and financing can be used to uplift and support Indigenous Peoples in implementing their own self-driven initiatives.\u00a0Stay tuned as I continue to investigate these crucial questions this week!<\/p>\n

— Shana<\/p>\n

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This afternoon, I attended two extremely interesting side events that focused on incorporating Indigenous rights in the language and implementation of the\u00a0Katowice Rulebook (the goal\u00a0of this COP is to\u00a0establish this Rulebook to actually implement the commitments set forth in the Paris Agreement). The first event, titled “Realizing the Vision of Paris: Incorporating Rights in the … Continue reading The Implications of Mitigation and Adaptation Approaches and Climate Funds for Indigenous Rights<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":595,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585\/revisions\/595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}