#landgrabs — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #landgrabs, aggregated by home.social.
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https://www.europesays.com/ch/38908/ Voices from Sindh: A Cry for Justice at Geneva #EnforcedDisappearances #ForcedConversions #Geneva #HumanRights #InternationalSupport #LandGrabs #protest #Sindh #UNHRC #WorldSindhiCongress
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No surprise - #China, alone, is calling for the removal of #minerals from the Just Transition Work Program at #COP30 #climate talks
Well, no surprise to me. The press release from civil society makes the absurd claim that China is "uniquely positioned to champion a just and equitable approach to transition minerals."
Do they really think a authoritarian country, whose #cleantech industry uses #forcedlabor and #landgrabs of #Tibetan and #Uyghur land/bodies will really "champion" justice?
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Sunday, June 1, 2025
UK identifies Russia as an ‘immediate and pressing’ threat in new defense review — Ukraine’s enduring cyber defense: Assessing resilience and impact of shifting international support — European leaders shift focus to defending Ukraine without US support — Pompeo urges Trump not to legitimize Russia’s land grabs in Ukraine … and more
https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/06/sunday-june-1-2025/
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Sunday, June 1, 2025
UK identifies Russia as an ‘immediate and pressing’ threat in new defense review — Ukraine’s enduring cyber defense: Assessing resilience and impact of shifting international support — European leaders shift focus to defending Ukraine without US support — Pompeo urges Trump not to legitimize Russia’s land grabs in Ukraine … and more
https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/06/sunday-june-1-2025/
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Sunday, June 1, 2025
UK identifies Russia as an ‘immediate and pressing’ threat in new defense review — Ukraine’s enduring cyber defense: Assessing resilience and impact of shifting international support — European leaders shift focus to defending Ukraine without US support — Pompeo urges Trump not to legitimize Russia’s land grabs in Ukraine … and more
https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/06/sunday-june-1-2025/
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Sunday, June 1, 2025
UK identifies Russia as an ‘immediate and pressing’ threat in new defense review — Ukraine’s enduring cyber defense: Assessing resilience and impact of shifting international support — European leaders shift focus to defending Ukraine without US support — Pompeo urges Trump not to legitimize Russia’s land grabs in Ukraine … and more
https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/06/sunday-june-1-2025/
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#Indigenous "#ReMattering": A conversation with #DavidShaneLowry, PhD
"Sheeva Azma talks to Dr. David Shane Lowry about his work magnifying #IndigenousPerspectives from an anthropological perspective, including in science and technology, and science communication.
"Dr. Lowry serves on the faculty at the University of Southern Maine. He earned his BS from MIT and both Master’s and PhD from UNC Chapel Hill, all in anthropology. He is an anthropologist and member (citizen) of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. He grew up in the #Lumbee community in Robeson County, North Carolina. In 2021-22, he was Distinguished Fellow in #NativeAmerican Studies at MIT, where he led a new conversation at MIT about the responsibilities of MIT (and science/technology education, more generally) in the theft of American Indian land and the dismantling of American Indian health and community. From 2022 to 2023, he was Visiting Senior Fellow in the School of Social Policy at Brandeis University. At USM, Dr. Lowry runs the #IndigenousRelationshipsLab as a place for and commitment to #justice and re-mattering of American Indian and other Indigenous peoples from #Maine, to #Massachusetts, to #NorthCarolina. David writes and hosts conversations on InTrust [link below]."
Watch video [includes transcript]:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-mqEXlJmoE#IndigenousPeoplesTrust link:
https://indigenouspeoplestrust.org.
#LandBack #LandGrabs #Colonialism #NativeAmericanHistory #NativeAmericanScholars -
20 Lessons from the 20th Century About How to Defend #Democracy from #Authoritarianism, According to Yale #Historian #TimothySnyder
in History | January 20th, 2017
"Timothy Snyder, Housum Professor of History at Yale University, is one of the foremost scholars in the U.S. and Europe on the rise and fall of #totalitarianism during the 1930s and 40s. Among his long list of appointments and publications, he has won multiple awards for his recent international bestsellers '#Bloodlands: Europe between #Hitler and #Stalin' and last year’s 'Black Earth: The #Holocaust as History and Warning.' That book in part makes the argument that #Nazism wasn’t only a #German #nationalist movement but had global #colonialist origins—in #Russia, #Africa, and in the #UnitedStates, the nation that pioneered so many methods of human extermination, #racist #dehumanization, and ideologically-justified #LandGrabs.
"The hyper-#capitalism portrayed in the U.S.—even during the Depression—Snyder writes, fueled Hitler’s imagination, such that he promised Germans 'a life comparable to that of the American people,' whose 'racially pure and uncorrupted' German population he described as 'world class.' Snyder describes Hitler’s ideology as a myth of racialist struggle in which 'there are really no values in the world except for the stark reality that we are born in order to take things from other people.' Or as we often hear these days, that acting in accordance with this principle is the 'smart' thing to do. Like many far right figures before and after, Hitler aimed to restore a state of nature that for him was a perpetual state of race war for imperial dominance."
https://www.openculture.com/2017/01/20-lessons-from-the-20th-century-about-how-to-defend-democracies-from-authoritarianism.html
#History #Histodon #Hitler #Fascism #Authoritarianism #HyperCapitalism #CorporateFascism #CorporateColonialism -
#Fires, #Fascism and the Loss of #IndigenousKnowledge
On returning from filming a #wildfire documentary, #PeterKnapp explains how fascism and #racism are connected to #wildfires. LA is just the latest example.
"Replacing the #IndigenousPeople and the fire-resistant natural forests with flammable buildings, fences, bushes, leaf piles, and other colonist infrastructure has made the area much more prone to catastrophic wildfires. This needs to be recognised and the natural balance achieved by the Native Californians needs to be realised and rapidly scaled up to avoid similar catastrophes."
Peter Knapp, January 21, 2025
"Firstly, let’s summarise the scale of the January 2025 fires in Los Angeles to the time of writing (16th Jan). Over an area roughly three times the size of Manhattan, over 12,000 homes have been reduced to ashes, forcing the evacuation of 150,000 people and leaving entire neighbourhoods in ruins. The fires have claimed 25 lives, with 24 individuals still missing. Economic losses and damages are estimated to reach $250 billion, potentially making this the most expensive wildfire in U.S. history, largely due to its destruction of some of the nation’s most valuable real estate.
"Not just celebrities’ homes were destroyed, of course. The Palisades Bowl trailer park, home to nearly 200 mobile units, was largely engulfed in flames. The diverse Altadena community saw over 14,000 acres burnt, including homes, schools, churches, and businesses. Yet, crowdfunding has supported wealthier neighbourhoods much more. This catastrophe, like so many others yet to come, disproportionately affects the poorest and most vulnerable.
"Throughout June-September 2024, I filmed an independent documentary looking at wildfires, their causes and impact. I interviewed 48 people in 6 different countries about their experiences with wildfires or their expertise in tackling them. This took me into a number of interesting side alleys, including the links with organised crime and political corruption. I looked at mental health, biodiversity loss, community-building, and wildfire resilience. But one theme kept returning again and again: the Far Right and fascism. Modern day fascism capitalises on any crisis and, in the case of wildfires, make them more likely.
"I was — and remain — deep in the editing phase of my film when the LA fires, including the Palisades fire, raged. And so I saw these links playing out again, in real time. Here are some reasons for how the LA fires have become so bad, how they are linked to the loss of Indigenous Knowledge — and fascism.
Fire suppression and controlled burning
"For more than 13,000 years before European #colonisation, most #Indigenous Californians practiced controlled burning for a steady supply of food and medicinal plants while maintaining #ecosystem balance.
"This practice preserved old growth while burning the flammable shrub, grasses, and bushes to stop them building up, thereby reducing the chances of catastrophic fires.
"But the #LandGrabs, genocides, and removal of Indigenous Californians led to a loss of this vital sustainable practice. Soon after Western occupation, more than 37,000 Indigenous Californians died at the early Christian missions, and between 1850–1870 around 80% of their population were wiped out. Racist and #colonial attitudes embodied in the '#IndianProblem' gave Europeans the right to enslave native people and take custody of their children.
"In 1830, the Removal Act aimed to displace #NativeAmericans from their tribal lands, whereby the President could grant land west of the Mississippi River to Native Americans that agreed to give up their homelands.
"In 1850, the US government passed the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians, which outlawed intentional burning in California. In 1851, California’s first governor, Peter Burnett, declared that a 'war of extermination' needed to be waged upon Indigenous peoples. A series of unratified treaties of ‘peace and friendship’ forced them out of the coastal areas, including the LA region.
"In 1910, a string of disastrous wildfires, famously dubbed the '#BigBlowup,' ravaged Idaho and Montana and claimed the lives of over 100 firefighters. These were pivotal in persuading Congress, under the advocacy of forest reserve supporters, to create an agency dedicated primarily to suppressing wildfires.
"As the destruction of the natural beauty of the forests was realised by politicians, a ‘zero burn’ strategy to preserve the forests was created, in part to protect the economy and the natural beauty. The Weeks Act of 1911, aimed at protecting nature in the east of the USA, made the indigenous practices of ‘cultural uses of fire’ illegal."
Read more:
https://medium.com/the-new-climate/fires-fascism-and-the-loss-of-indigenous-knowledge-f8609c630231Archived version:
https://archive.ph/VX9GF
#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #IndigenousKnowledge #Colonialism #StolenChildren #BoardingSchools #StolenLand #OverDevelopment -
FS - Repeasantization, agroecology and the tactics of food sovereignty
Blain Snipstal
#FoodSovereignty #Agroecology #WorldFoodCrises #FoodCrises #LandGrabs #LandSpeculation #SocialMovements #PeasantMovement #LaViaCampesina #FoodMovements
#Read all you want! #OpenAccess
#Share generously! #KnowledgeSharing
#Grow your understanding of #Food
#Repeathttps://canadianfoodstudies.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cfs/article/view/132
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Here’s what’s at stake for #Indigenous peoples at #COP28
Negotiations happen behind closed doors, but for Indigenous peoples, “a lot of work happens in the hallways.”
by Anita Hofschneider, Nov 29, 2023
“Ozawa Bineshi Albert wants the world to stop relying on #FossilFuels. So last year, the co-executive director of #ClimateJusticeAlliance flew from the U.S. to Egypt to make her voice heard at COP27, the international conference on climate change where world leaders gather to negotiate new commitments to battle the #ClimateCrisis.
”But at COP27, Albert, who is Anishinaabe and Yuchi, noticed that Indigenous peoples like herself were outnumbered by fossil fuel #lobbyists. She was also struck by how many people touted #nuclear energy as an alternative to burning #oil and #gas.
'#Nuclear is one of the most dirty, damaging energy sources, particularly for #IndigenousPeople,' she thought. 'It touches Indigenous communities all along its lifecycle from where it gets #mined, to where it gets #processed, to where #NuclearPower plants are placed, to where #NuclearWaste gets stored.'
“That observation was just one indication of how the perspectives, and experiences, of Indigenous peoples aren’t always reflected in the broader #EnvironmentalMovement. As COP28 kicks off in the United Arab Emirates this week, hundreds of Indigenous advocates are making their way to Dubai with the hope of ensuring that their communities aren’t overlooked by global leaders.
“Though the conference doesn’t officially begin until Thursday, the work has already started. Jennifer Tauli Corpuz is Kankanaey-Igorot from the Philippines and is managing director of policy at Nia Tero. She spent eight hours Tuesday in an auditorium with about 350 fellow members of the #IndigenousPeoplesCaucus, a delegation representing Native peoples, working on the details of a two-minute opening statement that the Caucus will be allowed to give during COP28’s opening ceremony. Corpuz says it’s not easy to distill everyone’s perspectives and issues into such a short statement and the work required interpreters in five languages.
“Apart from ending fossil fuel reliance, Indigenous advocates at COP28 want to ensure that funding to offset the impacts of #ClimateChange reaches their communities; ensure Indigenous knowledge is seen as a solution to climate change; and prevent governments and private actors from violating their rights, especially as those actors pursue #GreenEnergy projects.
“Corpuz said the caucus plans to approve advocacy papers outlining their positions Wednesday. Then comes the work of convincing negotiators to listen. But it’s not easy.
“The estimated 350 Indigenous peoples at COP28 is an attendance record for Native advocates, but it’s still far fewer than the 600 fossil fuel lobbyists who attended COP27 last year. As well, the most important work at the conference, negotiating the exact language of international climate change treaties, gets done behind closed doors among designated representatives from United Nations member countries.
“Corpuz estimates that perhaps 20 of the 350 #IndigenousPeople at COP28 this week have government badges that allow them access to negotiations. But even then, because they aren’t credentialed delegates representing a negotiating party, they are only able to watch and listen, not speak, she said.
“Still, it’s an improvement over past years when Indigenous peoples’ representatives were locked out from even more rooms, said Corpuz. At least now Indigenous representatives will be able to hear the details of the negotiations, the perspectives of international representatives, and carry the information back for advocates to lobby government delegates. 'A lot of the work of the Indigenous Caucus happens in the hallways,' Corpuz said.
“A key question that’s expected to be decided this year is how much money wealthy nations like the U.S. should pay in order to cover the costs of climate disasters in the Global South, an initiative known as the loss and damage fund. One study estimates that nations in the Global North are responsible for 92% of excess carbon emissions each year, compared with 8% in the Global South.
“‘What’s at stake is how these finance mechanisms are going to impact and be accessible to Indigenous communities and other impacted communities, how they will be funded, and to what levels will they be funded,' Albert said. 'And will those resources actually get to communities and not be taken up by agencies that will administer them?'
“Eriel Deranger of the #Athabasca #Chipewyan #FirstNation in #Canada and executive director of Indigenous Climate Action, thinks that it makes sense that wealthy countries would be paying for climate impacts, but Deranger also wants the money to be available to Indigenous people no matter what country they live in due to already extreme climate impacts, many of which are exacerbated by #colonization and #LandTheft .
“‘If Canada, for example, or the U.S. is contributing to the loss and damage fund and we don’t have access to it as Indigenous people in North America or in the Global North, where are we going to see those kind of climate reparations and restitution for the damages that we are facing from the climate crisis?' Deranger asked.
“But money is only part of the equation, said Kandi White, a citizen of the #Mandan, #Hidatsa, and #Arikara Nations in the U.S. and program director at the Indigenous Environmental Network, which sent a 25-member delegation to Dubai. 'For Indigenous peoples, it’s not just about the money, but it’s also about the return of our #sovereignty over our lands,' said White.
“That sovereignty has been threatened by #landgrabs, including recent #landdeals between a #UnitedArabEmirates company and five #African nations for the #CarbonCredit trade, White said. The land deals were touted as a way to help conserve land and offset #pollution, but White is concerned about whether the Indigenous people living there truly #consented to the plan as well as how they’ll be affected. It’s part of a broader pattern of conservation deals that are creating conflict in Indigenous territories around the world.
“Both Deranger and White, who are in Dubai this week, also hope to establish a grievance procedure through which Indigenous peoples whose rights are infringed upon could hold governments accountable. 'We need there to not just be lip service of, ‘We recognize Indigenous rights,’ but we need to see language that has teeth,' Deranger said.
“But securing that level of accountability may be an uphill battle. Even when world leaders make promises, they don’t always fulfill them: wealthy countries blew a 2020 deadline to spend $100 billion a year to help poorer nations cope with climate impacts and make progress toward #decarbonization. One study suggested that goal may have been met last year, two years late, even as the world hurtles toward 3 degrees of warming.
“The combined challenges—a lack of access to negotiating tables and tepid commitments by global leaders—have fueled disillusionment. Moñeka De Oro, who is Chamorro from the Mariana Islands and co-executive director of the #Micronesia Climate Change Alliance, says that last year at COP some Indigenous Caucus members discussed boycotting the convention, 'no longer being a part of these processes that continuously degrade our input,' she said.
“De Oro recently helped draft a declaration for peace, unity and climate justice in the Pacific to be read at COP that called for a future free of #colonialism and #militarization. But as much as she believes in that message, she joined a boycott of this year’s convention with Grassroots Global Justice Alliance protesting the Israeli government’s war on Gaza, and questions whether to attend future meetings.
"'If you’re going to continue to continuously be ignored and continuously be just erased from the entire process, I don’t know how much longer we want to be complicit in attending these sorts of things,' she said.
“The power imbalances can be discouraging but Ozawa Bineshi Albert still feels determined.
“‘#COP is not a place that we go to thinking we’re going to get everything we want,' she said. To her, the overarching question is: 'How can we make sure that we at least hold the line and make sure the least amount of damage and the least amount of harm is caused to frontline and Indigenous communities?’”
#IndigenousRights #ClimateJustice #IndigenousConsent #EnvironmentalRacism #BigOilAndGas
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Here’s what’s at stake for #Indigenous peoples at #COP28
Negotiations happen behind closed doors, but for Indigenous peoples, “a lot of work happens in the hallways.”
by Anita Hofschneider, Nov 29, 2023
“Ozawa Bineshi Albert wants the world to stop relying on #FossilFuels. So last year, the co-executive director of #ClimateJusticeAlliance flew from the U.S. to Egypt to make her voice heard at COP27, the international conference on climate change where world leaders gather to negotiate new commitments to battle the #ClimateCrisis.
”But at COP27, Albert, who is Anishinaabe and Yuchi, noticed that Indigenous peoples like herself were outnumbered by fossil fuel #lobbyists. She was also struck by how many people touted #nuclear energy as an alternative to burning #oil and #gas.
'#Nuclear is one of the most dirty, damaging energy sources, particularly for #IndigenousPeople,' she thought. 'It touches Indigenous communities all along its lifecycle from where it gets #mined, to where it gets #processed, to where #NuclearPower plants are placed, to where #NuclearWaste gets stored.'
“That observation was just one indication of how the perspectives, and experiences, of Indigenous peoples aren’t always reflected in the broader #EnvironmentalMovement. As COP28 kicks off in the United Arab Emirates this week, hundreds of Indigenous advocates are making their way to Dubai with the hope of ensuring that their communities aren’t overlooked by global leaders.
“Though the conference doesn’t officially begin until Thursday, the work has already started. Jennifer Tauli Corpuz is Kankanaey-Igorot from the Philippines and is managing director of policy at Nia Tero. She spent eight hours Tuesday in an auditorium with about 350 fellow members of the #IndigenousPeoplesCaucus, a delegation representing Native peoples, working on the details of a two-minute opening statement that the Caucus will be allowed to give during COP28’s opening ceremony. Corpuz says it’s not easy to distill everyone’s perspectives and issues into such a short statement and the work required interpreters in five languages.
“Apart from ending fossil fuel reliance, Indigenous advocates at COP28 want to ensure that funding to offset the impacts of #ClimateChange reaches their communities; ensure Indigenous knowledge is seen as a solution to climate change; and prevent governments and private actors from violating their rights, especially as those actors pursue #GreenEnergy projects.
“Corpuz said the caucus plans to approve advocacy papers outlining their positions Wednesday. Then comes the work of convincing negotiators to listen. But it’s not easy.
“The estimated 350 Indigenous peoples at COP28 is an attendance record for Native advocates, but it’s still far fewer than the 600 fossil fuel lobbyists who attended COP27 last year. As well, the most important work at the conference, negotiating the exact language of international climate change treaties, gets done behind closed doors among designated representatives from United Nations member countries.
“Corpuz estimates that perhaps 20 of the 350 #IndigenousPeople at COP28 this week have government badges that allow them access to negotiations. But even then, because they aren’t credentialed delegates representing a negotiating party, they are only able to watch and listen, not speak, she said.
“Still, it’s an improvement over past years when Indigenous peoples’ representatives were locked out from even more rooms, said Corpuz. At least now Indigenous representatives will be able to hear the details of the negotiations, the perspectives of international representatives, and carry the information back for advocates to lobby government delegates. 'A lot of the work of the Indigenous Caucus happens in the hallways,' Corpuz said.
“A key question that’s expected to be decided this year is how much money wealthy nations like the U.S. should pay in order to cover the costs of climate disasters in the Global South, an initiative known as the loss and damage fund. One study estimates that nations in the Global North are responsible for 92% of excess carbon emissions each year, compared with 8% in the Global South.
“‘What’s at stake is how these finance mechanisms are going to impact and be accessible to Indigenous communities and other impacted communities, how they will be funded, and to what levels will they be funded,' Albert said. 'And will those resources actually get to communities and not be taken up by agencies that will administer them?'
“Eriel Deranger of the #Athabasca #Chipewyan #FirstNation in #Canada and executive director of Indigenous Climate Action, thinks that it makes sense that wealthy countries would be paying for climate impacts, but Deranger also wants the money to be available to Indigenous people no matter what country they live in due to already extreme climate impacts, many of which are exacerbated by #colonization and #LandTheft .
“‘If Canada, for example, or the U.S. is contributing to the loss and damage fund and we don’t have access to it as Indigenous people in North America or in the Global North, where are we going to see those kind of climate reparations and restitution for the damages that we are facing from the climate crisis?' Deranger asked.
“But money is only part of the equation, said Kandi White, a citizen of the #Mandan, #Hidatsa, and #Arikara Nations in the U.S. and program director at the Indigenous Environmental Network, which sent a 25-member delegation to Dubai. 'For Indigenous peoples, it’s not just about the money, but it’s also about the return of our #sovereignty over our lands,' said White.
“That sovereignty has been threatened by #landgrabs, including recent #landdeals between a #UnitedArabEmirates company and five #African nations for the #CarbonCredit trade, White said. The land deals were touted as a way to help conserve land and offset #pollution, but White is concerned about whether the Indigenous people living there truly #consented to the plan as well as how they’ll be affected. It’s part of a broader pattern of conservation deals that are creating conflict in Indigenous territories around the world.
“Both Deranger and White, who are in Dubai this week, also hope to establish a grievance procedure through which Indigenous peoples whose rights are infringed upon could hold governments accountable. 'We need there to not just be lip service of, ‘We recognize Indigenous rights,’ but we need to see language that has teeth,' Deranger said.
“But securing that level of accountability may be an uphill battle. Even when world leaders make promises, they don’t always fulfill them: wealthy countries blew a 2020 deadline to spend $100 billion a year to help poorer nations cope with climate impacts and make progress toward #decarbonization. One study suggested that goal may have been met last year, two years late, even as the world hurtles toward 3 degrees of warming.
“The combined challenges—a lack of access to negotiating tables and tepid commitments by global leaders—have fueled disillusionment. Moñeka De Oro, who is Chamorro from the Mariana Islands and co-executive director of the #Micronesia Climate Change Alliance, says that last year at COP some Indigenous Caucus members discussed boycotting the convention, 'no longer being a part of these processes that continuously degrade our input,' she said.
“De Oro recently helped draft a declaration for peace, unity and climate justice in the Pacific to be read at COP that called for a future free of #colonialism and #militarization. But as much as she believes in that message, she joined a boycott of this year’s convention with Grassroots Global Justice Alliance protesting the Israeli government’s war on Gaza, and questions whether to attend future meetings.
"'If you’re going to continue to continuously be ignored and continuously be just erased from the entire process, I don’t know how much longer we want to be complicit in attending these sorts of things,' she said.
“The power imbalances can be discouraging but Ozawa Bineshi Albert still feels determined.
“‘#COP is not a place that we go to thinking we’re going to get everything we want,' she said. To her, the overarching question is: 'How can we make sure that we at least hold the line and make sure the least amount of damage and the least amount of harm is caused to frontline and Indigenous communities?’”
#IndigenousRights #ClimateJustice #IndigenousConsent #EnvironmentalRacism #BigOilAndGas
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Here’s what’s at stake for #Indigenous peoples at #COP28
Negotiations happen behind closed doors, but for Indigenous peoples, “a lot of work happens in the hallways.”
by Anita Hofschneider, Nov 29, 2023
“Ozawa Bineshi Albert wants the world to stop relying on #FossilFuels. So last year, the co-executive director of #ClimateJusticeAlliance flew from the U.S. to Egypt to make her voice heard at COP27, the international conference on climate change where world leaders gather to negotiate new commitments to battle the #ClimateCrisis.
”But at COP27, Albert, who is Anishinaabe and Yuchi, noticed that Indigenous peoples like herself were outnumbered by fossil fuel #lobbyists. She was also struck by how many people touted #nuclear energy as an alternative to burning #oil and #gas.
'#Nuclear is one of the most dirty, damaging energy sources, particularly for #IndigenousPeople,' she thought. 'It touches Indigenous communities all along its lifecycle from where it gets #mined, to where it gets #processed, to where #NuclearPower plants are placed, to where #NuclearWaste gets stored.'
“That observation was just one indication of how the perspectives, and experiences, of Indigenous peoples aren’t always reflected in the broader #EnvironmentalMovement. As COP28 kicks off in the United Arab Emirates this week, hundreds of Indigenous advocates are making their way to Dubai with the hope of ensuring that their communities aren’t overlooked by global leaders.
“Though the conference doesn’t officially begin until Thursday, the work has already started. Jennifer Tauli Corpuz is Kankanaey-Igorot from the Philippines and is managing director of policy at Nia Tero. She spent eight hours Tuesday in an auditorium with about 350 fellow members of the #IndigenousPeoplesCaucus, a delegation representing Native peoples, working on the details of a two-minute opening statement that the Caucus will be allowed to give during COP28’s opening ceremony. Corpuz says it’s not easy to distill everyone’s perspectives and issues into such a short statement and the work required interpreters in five languages.
“Apart from ending fossil fuel reliance, Indigenous advocates at COP28 want to ensure that funding to offset the impacts of #ClimateChange reaches their communities; ensure Indigenous knowledge is seen as a solution to climate change; and prevent governments and private actors from violating their rights, especially as those actors pursue #GreenEnergy projects.
“Corpuz said the caucus plans to approve advocacy papers outlining their positions Wednesday. Then comes the work of convincing negotiators to listen. But it’s not easy.
“The estimated 350 Indigenous peoples at COP28 is an attendance record for Native advocates, but it’s still far fewer than the 600 fossil fuel lobbyists who attended COP27 last year. As well, the most important work at the conference, negotiating the exact language of international climate change treaties, gets done behind closed doors among designated representatives from United Nations member countries.
“Corpuz estimates that perhaps 20 of the 350 #IndigenousPeople at COP28 this week have government badges that allow them access to negotiations. But even then, because they aren’t credentialed delegates representing a negotiating party, they are only able to watch and listen, not speak, she said.
“Still, it’s an improvement over past years when Indigenous peoples’ representatives were locked out from even more rooms, said Corpuz. At least now Indigenous representatives will be able to hear the details of the negotiations, the perspectives of international representatives, and carry the information back for advocates to lobby government delegates. 'A lot of the work of the Indigenous Caucus happens in the hallways,' Corpuz said.
“A key question that’s expected to be decided this year is how much money wealthy nations like the U.S. should pay in order to cover the costs of climate disasters in the Global South, an initiative known as the loss and damage fund. One study estimates that nations in the Global North are responsible for 92% of excess carbon emissions each year, compared with 8% in the Global South.
“‘What’s at stake is how these finance mechanisms are going to impact and be accessible to Indigenous communities and other impacted communities, how they will be funded, and to what levels will they be funded,' Albert said. 'And will those resources actually get to communities and not be taken up by agencies that will administer them?'
“Eriel Deranger of the #Athabasca #Chipewyan #FirstNation in #Canada and executive director of Indigenous Climate Action, thinks that it makes sense that wealthy countries would be paying for climate impacts, but Deranger also wants the money to be available to Indigenous people no matter what country they live in due to already extreme climate impacts, many of which are exacerbated by #colonization and #LandTheft .
“‘If Canada, for example, or the U.S. is contributing to the loss and damage fund and we don’t have access to it as Indigenous people in North America or in the Global North, where are we going to see those kind of climate reparations and restitution for the damages that we are facing from the climate crisis?' Deranger asked.
“But money is only part of the equation, said Kandi White, a citizen of the #Mandan, #Hidatsa, and #Arikara Nations in the U.S. and program director at the Indigenous Environmental Network, which sent a 25-member delegation to Dubai. 'For Indigenous peoples, it’s not just about the money, but it’s also about the return of our #sovereignty over our lands,' said White.
“That sovereignty has been threatened by #landgrabs, including recent #landdeals between a #UnitedArabEmirates company and five #African nations for the #CarbonCredit trade, White said. The land deals were touted as a way to help conserve land and offset #pollution, but White is concerned about whether the Indigenous people living there truly #consented to the plan as well as how they’ll be affected. It’s part of a broader pattern of conservation deals that are creating conflict in Indigenous territories around the world.
“Both Deranger and White, who are in Dubai this week, also hope to establish a grievance procedure through which Indigenous peoples whose rights are infringed upon could hold governments accountable. 'We need there to not just be lip service of, ‘We recognize Indigenous rights,’ but we need to see language that has teeth,' Deranger said.
“But securing that level of accountability may be an uphill battle. Even when world leaders make promises, they don’t always fulfill them: wealthy countries blew a 2020 deadline to spend $100 billion a year to help poorer nations cope with climate impacts and make progress toward #decarbonization. One study suggested that goal may have been met last year, two years late, even as the world hurtles toward 3 degrees of warming.
“The combined challenges—a lack of access to negotiating tables and tepid commitments by global leaders—have fueled disillusionment. Moñeka De Oro, who is Chamorro from the Mariana Islands and co-executive director of the #Micronesia Climate Change Alliance, says that last year at COP some Indigenous Caucus members discussed boycotting the convention, 'no longer being a part of these processes that continuously degrade our input,' she said.
“De Oro recently helped draft a declaration for peace, unity and climate justice in the Pacific to be read at COP that called for a future free of #colonialism and #militarization. But as much as she believes in that message, she joined a boycott of this year’s convention with Grassroots Global Justice Alliance protesting the Israeli government’s war on Gaza, and questions whether to attend future meetings.
"'If you’re going to continue to continuously be ignored and continuously be just erased from the entire process, I don’t know how much longer we want to be complicit in attending these sorts of things,' she said.
“The power imbalances can be discouraging but Ozawa Bineshi Albert still feels determined.
“‘#COP is not a place that we go to thinking we’re going to get everything we want,' she said. To her, the overarching question is: 'How can we make sure that we at least hold the line and make sure the least amount of damage and the least amount of harm is caused to frontline and Indigenous communities?’”
#IndigenousRights #ClimateJustice #IndigenousConsent #EnvironmentalRacism #BigOilAndGas
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Here’s what’s at stake for #Indigenous peoples at #COP28
Negotiations happen behind closed doors, but for Indigenous peoples, “a lot of work happens in the hallways.”
by Anita Hofschneider, Nov 29, 2023
“Ozawa Bineshi Albert wants the world to stop relying on #FossilFuels. So last year, the co-executive director of #ClimateJusticeAlliance flew from the U.S. to Egypt to make her voice heard at COP27, the international conference on climate change where world leaders gather to negotiate new commitments to battle the #ClimateCrisis.
”But at COP27, Albert, who is Anishinaabe and Yuchi, noticed that Indigenous peoples like herself were outnumbered by fossil fuel #lobbyists. She was also struck by how many people touted #nuclear energy as an alternative to burning #oil and #gas.
'#Nuclear is one of the most dirty, damaging energy sources, particularly for #IndigenousPeople,' she thought. 'It touches Indigenous communities all along its lifecycle from where it gets #mined, to where it gets #processed, to where #NuclearPower plants are placed, to where #NuclearWaste gets stored.'
“That observation was just one indication of how the perspectives, and experiences, of Indigenous peoples aren’t always reflected in the broader #EnvironmentalMovement. As COP28 kicks off in the United Arab Emirates this week, hundreds of Indigenous advocates are making their way to Dubai with the hope of ensuring that their communities aren’t overlooked by global leaders.
“Though the conference doesn’t officially begin until Thursday, the work has already started. Jennifer Tauli Corpuz is Kankanaey-Igorot from the Philippines and is managing director of policy at Nia Tero. She spent eight hours Tuesday in an auditorium with about 350 fellow members of the #IndigenousPeoplesCaucus, a delegation representing Native peoples, working on the details of a two-minute opening statement that the Caucus will be allowed to give during COP28’s opening ceremony. Corpuz says it’s not easy to distill everyone’s perspectives and issues into such a short statement and the work required interpreters in five languages.
“Apart from ending fossil fuel reliance, Indigenous advocates at COP28 want to ensure that funding to offset the impacts of #ClimateChange reaches their communities; ensure Indigenous knowledge is seen as a solution to climate change; and prevent governments and private actors from violating their rights, especially as those actors pursue #GreenEnergy projects.
“Corpuz said the caucus plans to approve advocacy papers outlining their positions Wednesday. Then comes the work of convincing negotiators to listen. But it’s not easy.
“The estimated 350 Indigenous peoples at COP28 is an attendance record for Native advocates, but it’s still far fewer than the 600 fossil fuel lobbyists who attended COP27 last year. As well, the most important work at the conference, negotiating the exact language of international climate change treaties, gets done behind closed doors among designated representatives from United Nations member countries.
“Corpuz estimates that perhaps 20 of the 350 #IndigenousPeople at COP28 this week have government badges that allow them access to negotiations. But even then, because they aren’t credentialed delegates representing a negotiating party, they are only able to watch and listen, not speak, she said.
“Still, it’s an improvement over past years when Indigenous peoples’ representatives were locked out from even more rooms, said Corpuz. At least now Indigenous representatives will be able to hear the details of the negotiations, the perspectives of international representatives, and carry the information back for advocates to lobby government delegates. 'A lot of the work of the Indigenous Caucus happens in the hallways,' Corpuz said.
“A key question that’s expected to be decided this year is how much money wealthy nations like the U.S. should pay in order to cover the costs of climate disasters in the Global South, an initiative known as the loss and damage fund. One study estimates that nations in the Global North are responsible for 92% of excess carbon emissions each year, compared with 8% in the Global South.
“‘What’s at stake is how these finance mechanisms are going to impact and be accessible to Indigenous communities and other impacted communities, how they will be funded, and to what levels will they be funded,' Albert said. 'And will those resources actually get to communities and not be taken up by agencies that will administer them?'
“Eriel Deranger of the #Athabasca #Chipewyan #FirstNation in #Canada and executive director of Indigenous Climate Action, thinks that it makes sense that wealthy countries would be paying for climate impacts, but Deranger also wants the money to be available to Indigenous people no matter what country they live in due to already extreme climate impacts, many of which are exacerbated by #colonization and #LandTheft .
“‘If Canada, for example, or the U.S. is contributing to the loss and damage fund and we don’t have access to it as Indigenous people in North America or in the Global North, where are we going to see those kind of climate reparations and restitution for the damages that we are facing from the climate crisis?' Deranger asked.
“But money is only part of the equation, said Kandi White, a citizen of the #Mandan, #Hidatsa, and #Arikara Nations in the U.S. and program director at the Indigenous Environmental Network, which sent a 25-member delegation to Dubai. 'For Indigenous peoples, it’s not just about the money, but it’s also about the return of our #sovereignty over our lands,' said White.
“That sovereignty has been threatened by #landgrabs, including recent #landdeals between a #UnitedArabEmirates company and five #African nations for the #CarbonCredit trade, White said. The land deals were touted as a way to help conserve land and offset #pollution, but White is concerned about whether the Indigenous people living there truly #consented to the plan as well as how they’ll be affected. It’s part of a broader pattern of conservation deals that are creating conflict in Indigenous territories around the world.
“Both Deranger and White, who are in Dubai this week, also hope to establish a grievance procedure through which Indigenous peoples whose rights are infringed upon could hold governments accountable. 'We need there to not just be lip service of, ‘We recognize Indigenous rights,’ but we need to see language that has teeth,' Deranger said.
“But securing that level of accountability may be an uphill battle. Even when world leaders make promises, they don’t always fulfill them: wealthy countries blew a 2020 deadline to spend $100 billion a year to help poorer nations cope with climate impacts and make progress toward #decarbonization. One study suggested that goal may have been met last year, two years late, even as the world hurtles toward 3 degrees of warming.
“The combined challenges—a lack of access to negotiating tables and tepid commitments by global leaders—have fueled disillusionment. Moñeka De Oro, who is Chamorro from the Mariana Islands and co-executive director of the #Micronesia Climate Change Alliance, says that last year at COP some Indigenous Caucus members discussed boycotting the convention, 'no longer being a part of these processes that continuously degrade our input,' she said.
“De Oro recently helped draft a declaration for peace, unity and climate justice in the Pacific to be read at COP that called for a future free of #colonialism and #militarization. But as much as she believes in that message, she joined a boycott of this year’s convention with Grassroots Global Justice Alliance protesting the Israeli government’s war on Gaza, and questions whether to attend future meetings.
"'If you’re going to continue to continuously be ignored and continuously be just erased from the entire process, I don’t know how much longer we want to be complicit in attending these sorts of things,' she said.
“The power imbalances can be discouraging but Ozawa Bineshi Albert still feels determined.
“‘#COP is not a place that we go to thinking we’re going to get everything we want,' she said. To her, the overarching question is: 'How can we make sure that we at least hold the line and make sure the least amount of damage and the least amount of harm is caused to frontline and Indigenous communities?’”
#IndigenousRights #ClimateJustice #IndigenousConsent #EnvironmentalRacism #BigOilAndGas
-
Here’s what’s at stake for #Indigenous peoples at #COP28
Negotiations happen behind closed doors, but for Indigenous peoples, “a lot of work happens in the hallways.”
by Anita Hofschneider, Nov 29, 2023
“Ozawa Bineshi Albert wants the world to stop relying on #FossilFuels. So last year, the co-executive director of #ClimateJusticeAlliance flew from the U.S. to Egypt to make her voice heard at COP27, the international conference on climate change where world leaders gather to negotiate new commitments to battle the #ClimateCrisis.
”But at COP27, Albert, who is Anishinaabe and Yuchi, noticed that Indigenous peoples like herself were outnumbered by fossil fuel #lobbyists. She was also struck by how many people touted #nuclear energy as an alternative to burning #oil and #gas.
'#Nuclear is one of the most dirty, damaging energy sources, particularly for #IndigenousPeople,' she thought. 'It touches Indigenous communities all along its lifecycle from where it gets #mined, to where it gets #processed, to where #NuclearPower plants are placed, to where #NuclearWaste gets stored.'
“That observation was just one indication of how the perspectives, and experiences, of Indigenous peoples aren’t always reflected in the broader #EnvironmentalMovement. As COP28 kicks off in the United Arab Emirates this week, hundreds of Indigenous advocates are making their way to Dubai with the hope of ensuring that their communities aren’t overlooked by global leaders.
“Though the conference doesn’t officially begin until Thursday, the work has already started. Jennifer Tauli Corpuz is Kankanaey-Igorot from the Philippines and is managing director of policy at Nia Tero. She spent eight hours Tuesday in an auditorium with about 350 fellow members of the #IndigenousPeoplesCaucus, a delegation representing Native peoples, working on the details of a two-minute opening statement that the Caucus will be allowed to give during COP28’s opening ceremony. Corpuz says it’s not easy to distill everyone’s perspectives and issues into such a short statement and the work required interpreters in five languages.
“Apart from ending fossil fuel reliance, Indigenous advocates at COP28 want to ensure that funding to offset the impacts of #ClimateChange reaches their communities; ensure Indigenous knowledge is seen as a solution to climate change; and prevent governments and private actors from violating their rights, especially as those actors pursue #GreenEnergy projects.
“Corpuz said the caucus plans to approve advocacy papers outlining their positions Wednesday. Then comes the work of convincing negotiators to listen. But it’s not easy.
“The estimated 350 Indigenous peoples at COP28 is an attendance record for Native advocates, but it’s still far fewer than the 600 fossil fuel lobbyists who attended COP27 last year. As well, the most important work at the conference, negotiating the exact language of international climate change treaties, gets done behind closed doors among designated representatives from United Nations member countries.
“Corpuz estimates that perhaps 20 of the 350 #IndigenousPeople at COP28 this week have government badges that allow them access to negotiations. But even then, because they aren’t credentialed delegates representing a negotiating party, they are only able to watch and listen, not speak, she said.
“Still, it’s an improvement over past years when Indigenous peoples’ representatives were locked out from even more rooms, said Corpuz. At least now Indigenous representatives will be able to hear the details of the negotiations, the perspectives of international representatives, and carry the information back for advocates to lobby government delegates. 'A lot of the work of the Indigenous Caucus happens in the hallways,' Corpuz said.
“A key question that’s expected to be decided this year is how much money wealthy nations like the U.S. should pay in order to cover the costs of climate disasters in the Global South, an initiative known as the loss and damage fund. One study estimates that nations in the Global North are responsible for 92% of excess carbon emissions each year, compared with 8% in the Global South.
“‘What’s at stake is how these finance mechanisms are going to impact and be accessible to Indigenous communities and other impacted communities, how they will be funded, and to what levels will they be funded,' Albert said. 'And will those resources actually get to communities and not be taken up by agencies that will administer them?'
“Eriel Deranger of the #Athabasca #Chipewyan #FirstNation in #Canada and executive director of Indigenous Climate Action, thinks that it makes sense that wealthy countries would be paying for climate impacts, but Deranger also wants the money to be available to Indigenous people no matter what country they live in due to already extreme climate impacts, many of which are exacerbated by #colonization and #LandTheft .
“‘If Canada, for example, or the U.S. is contributing to the loss and damage fund and we don’t have access to it as Indigenous people in North America or in the Global North, where are we going to see those kind of climate reparations and restitution for the damages that we are facing from the climate crisis?' Deranger asked.
“But money is only part of the equation, said Kandi White, a citizen of the #Mandan, #Hidatsa, and #Arikara Nations in the U.S. and program director at the Indigenous Environmental Network, which sent a 25-member delegation to Dubai. 'For Indigenous peoples, it’s not just about the money, but it’s also about the return of our #sovereignty over our lands,' said White.
“That sovereignty has been threatened by #landgrabs, including recent #landdeals between a #UnitedArabEmirates company and five #African nations for the #CarbonCredit trade, White said. The land deals were touted as a way to help conserve land and offset #pollution, but White is concerned about whether the Indigenous people living there truly #consented to the plan as well as how they’ll be affected. It’s part of a broader pattern of conservation deals that are creating conflict in Indigenous territories around the world.
“Both Deranger and White, who are in Dubai this week, also hope to establish a grievance procedure through which Indigenous peoples whose rights are infringed upon could hold governments accountable. 'We need there to not just be lip service of, ‘We recognize Indigenous rights,’ but we need to see language that has teeth,' Deranger said.
“But securing that level of accountability may be an uphill battle. Even when world leaders make promises, they don’t always fulfill them: wealthy countries blew a 2020 deadline to spend $100 billion a year to help poorer nations cope with climate impacts and make progress toward #decarbonization. One study suggested that goal may have been met last year, two years late, even as the world hurtles toward 3 degrees of warming.
“The combined challenges—a lack of access to negotiating tables and tepid commitments by global leaders—have fueled disillusionment. Moñeka De Oro, who is Chamorro from the Mariana Islands and co-executive director of the #Micronesia Climate Change Alliance, says that last year at COP some Indigenous Caucus members discussed boycotting the convention, 'no longer being a part of these processes that continuously degrade our input,' she said.
“De Oro recently helped draft a declaration for peace, unity and climate justice in the Pacific to be read at COP that called for a future free of #colonialism and #militarization. But as much as she believes in that message, she joined a boycott of this year’s convention with Grassroots Global Justice Alliance protesting the Israeli government’s war on Gaza, and questions whether to attend future meetings.
"'If you’re going to continue to continuously be ignored and continuously be just erased from the entire process, I don’t know how much longer we want to be complicit in attending these sorts of things,' she said.
“The power imbalances can be discouraging but Ozawa Bineshi Albert still feels determined.
“‘#COP is not a place that we go to thinking we’re going to get everything we want,' she said. To her, the overarching question is: 'How can we make sure that we at least hold the line and make sure the least amount of damage and the least amount of harm is caused to frontline and Indigenous communities?’”
#IndigenousRights #ClimateJustice #IndigenousConsent #EnvironmentalRacism #BigOilAndGas