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World Bank creates climate fund for Indigenous People

PRIOR LAKE, Minn. — I’m here today at the Native Peoples Native Homelands Climate Change Workshop II at the Mystic Lake Casino where hundreds of people are sharing information on climate change and the impacts on indigenous peoples worldwide. The energy here is high, with tremendous indigenous grassroots representation from North America.

Meanwhile,  as corporations have significantly damaged the world’s ecosystems, international leaders are recognizing indigenous people’s knowledge in land management and restoration. Here’s the latest news on the international front:

World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick opened a roundtable discussion Nov. 18 on Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change by saying that Indigenous Peoples carry a “disproportionate share of the burden of climate change effects,” according to a World Bank press release.

Two weeks before the opening of a major United Nations conference on climate change in Copenhagen, Zoellick went on to stress the importance of including those most affected by climate change in climate change debates.

 

Zoellick was speaking at the roundtable organized by the World Bank and First Peoples Worldwide, held at World Bank headquarters in Washington. The event brought together Indigenous Peoples Representatives from around the world as well as other non-governmental organizations, the private sector, and bilateral and international organizations to exchange ideas, forge partnerships, and create synergies to map the way forward for an Indigenous Peoples Climate Action Fund (IPCAF).

 In his remarks, Zoellick said that “climate change exacerbates the difficulties that indigenous communities already face – including loss of land and resources, lower human development indicators, discrimination, unemployment, and economic and political marginalization.”

 Indigenous communities, with their “long experience in managing natural resources, and adapting to climate change,” he added, “can also add to our knowledge and understanding of how best to cope with this complex challenge … learning from Indigenous Peoples will make our discussions richer and our actions more productive.”

 The Bank Group President cited several examples of how, in different parts of the world, the knowledge and experience of Indigenous Peoples is helping them to cope with some of the already inevitable impacts of climate change. In parts of Africa, he said, Indigenous Peoples have long made use of the dry land conditions – by growing Red bush tea, for instance. Women plant crops that are more resistant to droughts and pests, providing a reserve for extended periods of economic hardship. They preserve seeds that will ensure resistance to a range of conditions that may arise in a particular season or year.

 In the Marshall Islands, Indigenous Peoples have found ways to use blocks of coral to protect fresh water supplies from salt water contamination. In Vietnam, indigenous communities plant dense mangroves along the shores to protect the coastline – the mangroves diffuse incoming waves during tropical storms. And in Australia, Aboriginal communities are using traditional controlled burning to keep the undergrowth under control, helping to prevent giant fires that devastate entire landscapes and release massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.

 The World Bank’s Social Development Department assisted First Peoples Worldwide in designing the Indigenous Peoples Climate Action Fund (IPCAF). This innovative initiative aims to provide direct financing to selected indigenous communities around the world. The Fund will be used for several purposes:

 · to document Indigenous Peoples’ responses to climate change;

· to integrate local indigenous knowledge on climate change adaptation and mitigation into project designs and implementation and finally; and

· to strengthen the capacity of Indigenous Peoples’ communities to influence decision-making and to engage in dialogue on climate change at the national and international level.

 The Fund will be managed and implemented by First Peoples Worldwide – which has extensive experience in developing financial mechanisms to reach Indigenous Peoples – with the Bank playing an advisory role.

Jodi Rave

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear is the founder and director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization with offices in Bismarck, N.D. and the Fort Berthold Reservation. Jodi spent 15 years reporting for the mainstream press. She's been awarded prestigious Nieman and John S. Knight journalism fellowships at Harvard and Stanford, respectively. She also an MIT Knight Science Journalism Project fellow. Her writing is featured in "The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity," published by Columbia University Press. Jodi currently serves as a Society of Professional Journalists at-large board member, an SPJ Foundation board member, and she chairs the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee. Jodi has won top journalism awards from mainstream and Native press organizations. She earned her journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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  • muscle relaxer

    You need think about it. Despite the emails, the overwhelming evidence showing global warming is happening hasn’t changed.
    “The e-mails do nothing to undermine the very strong scientific consensus . . . that tells us the Earth is warming, that warming is largely a result of human activity,” Jane Lubchenco, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told a House committee. She said that the e-mails don’t cover data from NOAA and NASA, whose independent climate records show dramatic warming.

  • new teens

    You need think about it. Despite the emails, the overwhelming evidence showing global warming is happening hasn’t changed.

  • IRA

    Thank you so much, there aren’t enough posts on this… keep up the good work

Comments are closed.

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