People’s Climate March in NYC

Indigenous Peoples’ traditional teachings have long warned that if human beings failed to protect and care for Mother Earth and the natural world, the survival of humanity would be threatened. Today, increasingly severe impacts of climate change threaten ecosystems and food production around the world and Indigenous Peoples are on the frontlines of climate change impacts.

Indigenous Peoples are participating in the People’s Climate March to bring attention to the devastating impacts of climate change and to share our hopes and teachings for living in harmony with Mother Earth.

For more information: http://peoplesclimate.org/indigenous/

Climate Change Grant Extended to November 15

(Para informacion en espanol)

First Peoples Worldwide recently sent out a call to Indigenous-led NGOs or NGOs working with Indigenous Peoples to complete an application answering questions that show how climate change is impacting the Indigenous community, their local environment, and how the Indigenous Peoples are using traditional knowledge to adapt to and mitigate climate change.

First Peoples will be making one $2,000 grant to an Indigenous community or Indigenous organization to continue their work using traditional knowledge to adapt to and mitigate climate change.

In order to be considered for this grant, you must complete an online survey. Your answers from the survey will be considered by First Peoples Worldwide as your application for this $2,000 grant. All applications must be submitted via the online survey form by November 15, 2009. You must answer all of the questions in the application in order to be considered for a grant. Please note that the questions begin on page 4 and continue through page 7. If you have worked on the survey but did not answer all questions, please re-submit the entire application to or contact Jessica Friswell.

Climate change has many impacts. You might want to share what your community does when there is a drought or when there is too much rain. What does your community do when the seasons come at the wrong time? When the winds change? When crops do not grow? How does your community use traditional knowledge, the wisdom of elders, and other information to solve the problems of climate change? These are some questions to consider in your answers; however, please think beyond these few items when discussing the reality of climate change in your community.

Grant funding must be used to continue work in the areas of climate change within the community as described in the application. Grants will only be made once the winning organizations complete the necessary paperwork required by First Peoples Worldwide.

Your organization must be registered under the laws of your country and have a bank account in order to receive a grant. If your organization is not registered or does not have a bank account, you may partner with a registered local organization to act on your behalf. If your organization does not meet the criteria above, a grant cannot be made. No grants can be awarded for travel to or activities within the United States. Individuals are invited and encouraged to complete the questions to share their thoughts and input; however First Peoples Worldwide cannot make a grant to an individual.

First Peoples Worldwide may use quotes from your application on our website, in funder materials, or in group presentations.

First Peoples Worldwide is holding a Donors' Roundtable that the World Bank has offered to host in Washington, DC on November 18, 2009. The Roundtable will bring together international funders from both the private and public sector. At this Roundtable First Peoples will be launching an Indigenous Peoples Climate Action Fund (IPCAF), which will directly fund Indigenous Peoples and their work using traditional knowledge to adapt to and mitigate climate change.


We hope to share some of the information that has been submitted during our call for applications with the participants at this Roundtable to highlight the benefits of Indigenous Peoples' traditional knowledge as a viable tool for successfully adapting and mitigating climate change. We want to be able to share this powerful Indigenous voice with the Roundtable attendees. I am writing to ask for the community's permission to share pieces of your application at this Roundtable meeting. If you do not wish to have any pieces of your application used during the Roundtable meeting, it will in no way change your community or organization's eligibility for the $2,000 grant.


The purpose of the Roundtable is to generate funding for IPCAF and to educate participants about the successful use of Indigenous Peoples' traditional knowledge in adapting to and mitigating climate change. The purpose of IPCAF is to fund the work of communities toward climate solutions in ways that are culturally and locally appropriate. First Peoples Worldwide will manage the Fund which is important because we are an Indigenous-led organization and our President has over 30 years experience making grants directly to Indigenous communities. First Peoples is working hard and very strategically to divert the global funding streams so they will flow directly to Indigenous organizations. First Peoples is dedicated to equitable funding for our communities and as such we see the need to re-direct these financial resources so our communities can decide what programs they want and who they want to fund them.

First Peoples Worldwide reserves the right not to make a grant if we do not receive any applications. Applications received after November 15, 2009 will not be considered for grants. Not all applicants will be awarded grants.

SURVEY LINK:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=yoWTKMrud7MOMpLzlhRRlw_3d_3d

Please forward this email to others who may be interested in applying.

Please contact Jessica Friswell (jfriswell@firstpeoplesworldwide.org) with any questions.

Climate change, and bio-cultural diversity: A Caribbean First Nations Perspective

Special Events and other Parallel Events at the Seventh Session of the
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
21 April - 2 May 2008

Climate change, and bio-cultural diversity: A Caribbean First Nations Perspective
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
1:15 p.m.-2:45 p.m.
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/Session_seventh_special_events_revised.doc

Organizer: United Confederation of Taino People
Co-sponsors: Indigenous Peoples Caucus of the Greater Caribbean (Consejo General de Tainos Borincanos, Kalinago Nation of Dominica, Fundacion Social Luz Cosmica Fraternalista Taina, Eagle Clan Arawaks)

Location: DC2-13th Floor
Conference Room
2 UN Plaza, 44th Street

Report highlights damaging effects of climate change on Caribbean

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS): The Human Development Report of 2007/08 has revealed that climate change will have devastating effects on the Caribbean that will, in the long run, lead to "low human development traps."

The report, done by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and entitled `Fighting Climate Change: Human solidarity in a divided world', which was launched on December 11 in Kingston, warns that the world should focus on the developmental impact of climate change that could lead to unprecedented reversals in poverty reduction, nutrition, health and education.

Resident Representative of the UNDP, Minh Pham said that the report has shown that the tourism industries of Jamaica and the Caribbean at large, would be severely affected as climate change would also lead to serious beach erosion and a disruption and possible extinction of marine life.

"Temperature rising will affect also marine life leading to coral reef bleaching, leading to extinction of marine animals and the combined consequence of that will affect the tourism sector, loss of employment and revenues, loss of livelihoods and employment within the fisheries sector as well," he outlined.

"In fact, the report pointed out that an increase in 50 centimetres in sea level will wipe out roughly one third of the Caribbean beaches," he added.

Pham noted that a rise in temperature would also lead to a rise in sea level, thereby creating more intensive and frequent hurricanes. "As temperature rises the sea level will rise as well, creating an increased energy of the ocean and the water mass which will lead to tremendous tropical cyclones, more intensive, more
frequent hurricanes," he explained.

He said that since water is a fundamental source of life and livelihood, water scarcity would impact food production, agriculture, nutrition and Jamaica's export earnings from agricultural products, coffee, coffee beans and bananas. He is therefore urging Jamaicans to see climate change as a "real, manmade" issue and also as a matter of national and regional importance.

He pointed out that the health issues that we are currently experiencing with dengue and malaria result from the change in climate.

Highlighting the link between climate change and human development, Pham said that a rise in temperature would severely affect the climate of the island. "As temperature rises and we see increased evaporation, we will see more droughts, but also we will see severe flooding and we will see a higher concentration of natural disasters in developing countries because of the global pattern," he reasoned.

Looking towards the future, Pham issued a word of caution, arguing that future generations would "judge us harshly, if we look at the evidence today and do nothing about it."

"In essence, we could condemn future generations to severe poverty, to diminishing opportunities for education, health, employment, for a meaningful and productive life, and we are condemning future societies as well to an ecological disaster," he said.

Source: www.caribbeannetnews.com/

DISPOSSESSING INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF ANCESTRAL LANDS

General Assembly
GA/SHC/3891
Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York
22 October 2007
Sixty-second General Assembly
Third Committee
19th Meeting (AM)

GLOBAL WARMING, INCREASING EXPLOITATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES, DISPOSSESSING INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF ANCESTRAL LANDS
Small Number of Isolated Communities at Risk of Physically Disappearing

Despite recent progress, as seen in new norms and institutions as well as policies at all levels addressing the rights of the world’s indigenous peoples, there was still an “implementation gap” between those norms and practice, and a number of negative trends vis-à-vis that marginalized population, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today as it held its discussion on the rights of indigenous peoples.

“Extractive activities, large commercial plantations and non-sustainable consumption patterns have led to widespread pollution and environmental degradation,” Rodolfo Stavenhagen, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples, told the Committee today as he presented the findings of his recent studies. The end result, he said, was that indigenous peoples, whose lives were closely linked to their lands, were dramatically affected by such trends, which had in turn led to their forced displacements.

In addition, Mr. Stavenhagen continued, various Arctic peoples were now suffering the direct consequences of global warming. And further compounding all of the negatives already cited was the criminalization of the social organizations of indigenous peoples which defended their rights. That by itself had generated new human rights violations, he observed.

The Special Rapporteur underscored that the decrease of territory belonging to indigenous peoples had been intensified by the dynamics of the globalized economy and its attendant increase in water and energy exploitation. A small number of isolated communities were actually at risk of physical disappearance because of those trends, he warned.

Many delegates mentioned the landmark status of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in enumerating the rights of that marginalized population, and reiterated their hopes that countries would work faithfully towards its implementation. Through the Declaration, many said that the international community had begun repayment of a historic debt to indigenous peoples.

See full article at:

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2007/gashc3891.doc.htm

VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES

Report highlights adverse effects of and adaptation to climate change in the Caribbean and other Small Island Developing States.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A. Context for adaptation to climate change for SIDS
1. There are 51 small island developing states which, in spite of their geographical and cultural
diversity, share similar economic and sustainable development challenges including low availability of resources, a small but rapidly growing population, remoteness, susceptibility to natural disasters, excessive dependence on international trade and vulnerability to global developments. SIDS also have to contend with a lack of economies of scale, high transportation and communication costs, and costly public administration and infrastructure.

2. The climate of small island states is influenced by large ocean-atmosphere interactions such as trade winds, El Niño and the monsoons; tropical cyclones and hurricanes are also important components of the climate, as well as sea-level rise. These climate characteristics, combined with their particular socioeconomic situations make SIDS, among which are 12 LDCs, some of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change. This, added to the fact that SIDS produce such extremely low levels of greenhouse gas emissions, means that they will suffer disproportionately from the damaging impacts of climate change.

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat:
http://unfccc.int/files/adaptation/adverse_effects_and_response_measures_art_48/application/pdf/200702_sids_adaptation_bg.pdf

View as HTML