Concluding thoughts

Throughout this blog series I’ve covered how indigenous communities are on the frontlines of environmental change, and often have to face the most severe impacts before any other group of people. However, I also hope that I’ve conveyed that indigenous peoples are not just victims, but resilient activists, and are playing an increasingly prominent role in areas such as climate change action and biodiversity conservation.

When researching and writing posts, I’ve found that it’s very easy to slip into the narrative that indigenous peoples are helpless and passive victims. Reading about the Batwa in Uganda being evicted so ruthlessly from their ancestral homeland to make way for a conservation project was nothing less than heart-breaking. I couldn’t help but think ‘if the good guys have been doing this, then what hope does anyone have against the bad guys?’

Furthermore, when we see images like the effect of rising sea level on Bangladesh for instance, it is hard to imagine how the country’s coastal indigenous communities, such as the Munda, will adapt and survive something as large and daunting as environmental change. 

However, as pointed out in the video below, the onslaught of extreme weather and threats to traditional livelihoods also gives rise to the anger felt by indigenous peoples that they are the most affected by a problem that they did not create. The Batwa have never hunted gorillas, but lost their homes due to overhunting and exploitation by people outside of their community. According to 2013 data, Bangladesh emitted 0.439 metric tons of carbon dioxide per capita, compared to the 16.39 metric tons per capita in the United States. This anger often manifests itself into forms of activism, as shown by the Munda women in the video participating in local decision making and organising to influence Bangladesh’s adaptation policies.

Adapting to environmental fluctuations is also a key component in indigenous knowledge. From the Inupiat on one side of the globe abiding by hunting quotas to preserve whale populations for the future, to the Australian aboriginals on the other side incorporating some invasive species into their cultures and diets, indigenous life develops and adjusts alongside changes in the environment. There is no denying, though, that the scale of the environmental issues that indigenous peoples now face may be unlike anything the previous generations have had to overcome. Environmental concerns including habitat degradation, pollutants, invasive species, biodiversity loss and climate change, are coupled with social issues such as discrimination, economic marginalisation and a disparity in healthcare.

"There are 370 million indigenous people today, in roughly 5000 nations, and these people are tough as diamonds. They are where the hope lies for the future of this planet."- Brian Keene, co-founder of Land is Life 

Nevertheless, since starting this blog, we’ve seen the success of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in their fight against fossil fuels and environmental pollution, and we’ve also seen indigenous communities participating at COP13 and being recognised as custodians of biodiversity. Studies have also proven that deforestation rates are lower when indigenous land rights are recognised, helping to keep carbon out of the atmosphere. Not only are indigenous and rural communities adapting on a local scale, but are becoming more and more recognised in global dialogues, and moving away from being seen as passive victims to becoming resilient change-makers. By now, it goes without saying that indigenous voices and the messages they convey are very powerful, but in the end we all need to listen.