THEME 3

ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP: NATURAL RESOURCE OWNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

Jump to topic: News Items | Conferences, Meeting Outcomes & Declarations | Research, Reports & Local observations
 

News Items

Greenland's Apartheid Rubies
Epoch Times | 2009-04-16
Summary: With the global warming melting glaciers, rubies, sapphires, and diamonds have recently been discovered in the far north. For centuries, rubies had been scooped up by the Inuit while they were out on the land, hunting, fishing, or gathering berries—a right that was protected by native tradition and the Greenlandic Constitution. Now these rights have been challenged by Greenland’s Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum (BMP), which sought to maintain the Danish colonial framework.

 

CBD Newsletter on REDD & Biodiversity, Volume 3
Convention on Biological Diversity | 2009-03-16
Summary: This issue of the newsletter addresses, inter alia,  the business case for high-biodviersity REDD projects and schemes, UNEP-WCMC’s new carbon and biodiversity atlas, and the Latin American Forum on REDD.
Keywords: redd, forests, environmental stewardship

As Effects of Warming Grow, U.N. Report is Quickly Dated
Yale Environment 360 | 2009-02-12
Summary: Issued less than two years ago, the report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was a voluminous and impressive document. Yet key portions of the report are already out of date, as evidence shows the impacts of warming intensifying from the Arctic to Antarctica. Like its three predecessors, the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, issued in 2007, took more than two years to compile. It synthesized literally thousands of individual peer-reviewed papers, written by hundreds of experts in a dozen different climate-related fields, based on innumerable ground-based and satellite observations, and scores of runs of the most sophisticated climate models available. Since then, new reports have continued to pour in from all over the world, and climate modelers have continued to feed them into their supercomputers. And while a full accounting will have to wait for the next IPCC report, which is already being assembled, the news is not encouraging.
Keywords: reports, environmental stewardship, arctic

REDD: Even at a conceptual stage indigenous peoples should be involved -  Interview with Victoria Tauli-Corpuz
REDD Monitor | 2009-01-13
Summary: In an interview to REDD Monitor, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UNPFII Chair, noted that “since REDD is still being designed, indigenous peoples should endeavour to contribute to the design to ensure that their customary laws and practices on forest governance and management and their traditional knowledge in forest management are integrated as part of REDD.
Keywords: forests, traditional knowledge, environmental stewardship

Indigenous insights help save coral reefs
ABC Australia | 2008-12-20
Summary: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s first official act on taking office just over a year ago, was to ratify the Kyoto protocol on climate change. That was swiftly followed with an historic apology to Aborigines for past injustices. The Australian leader’s actions were warmly welcomed in Queensland where Indigenous knowledge is helping scientists at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority manage the world’s biggest coral reef system. And further afield in the Pacific, the scientific community’s working more closely with Indigenous stakeholders whose input, it’s now recognised, is crucial if coral reefs are to survive the expected ravages of climate change.
Keywords: pacific, traditional knowledge, environmental stewardship, marine

Indigenous Groups Win Major Battle in Congress in Peru
IPS News (Milagros Salazar) | 2008-08-22
Summary: The Peruvian Congress voted Friday to repeal two decrees that opened up communally owned native lands to private investment and that triggered a wave of protests this month by indigenous people in Amazon jungle provinces.
Keywords: latin america, forests, human rights, environmental stewardship

Meting ice threatens Arctic Foxes
The Guardian (David Adam) | 2008-07-15
Summary: Polar bears may not be the only Arctic wildlife threatened by global warming. Scientists have discovered that Arctic foxes also struggle as the ice disappears because they rely on the frozen seas to survive the bleak winters.
Keywrods: arctic, environmental stewardship, tundra

Lost Land of the Jaguar
BBC TV | 2008-07-27
Summary: This three-part BBC series brings an international team of scientists, climbers and film-makers to the Guyanese rainforest to search for the extraordinary animals that live there. The series started transmission on 27 July 2008.
Keywords: caribbean, forests, multimedia, environmental stewardship

In Spain, Water Is a New Battleground
New York Times (Elizabeth Rosenthal) | 2008-06-03
Summary: Swaths of southeast Spain are steadily turning into desert - a process spurred on by global warming and poorly planned development.
Keywords: latin america, environmental stewardship
 

Conferences, Meeting Outcomes & Declarations

The Manila Declaration of the International Conference on Extractive Industries and Indigenous Peoples
Metro Manila, Philippines | 2009-03-25
Summary: Participants at the International Conference on Extractive Industries and Indigenous Peoples held from 23 to 25 March 2009 in Metro Manila, Philippines, adopted the Manila Declaration. Indigenous Poples have suffered disproportionately from the impact of extractive industries as our territories are home to over sixty percent of the world’s most coveted mineral resources. This has resulted in many problems to IPs, as it has attracted extractive industry corporations to unsustainably exploit our lands, territories and recourses without our consent. This exploitation has led to the worst forms of, environmental degradation, human rights violations and land dispossession and is contributing to climate change.
Keywords: industry, environmental stewardship

Global Indigenous Peoples Consultation on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
Tebtebba and United Nations University (UNU-IAS) | 2008-11-14
Summary: Participants at the Global Indigenous Peoples Consultation on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) held from 12 to 14 November 2008 in Baguio City, Philippines, adopted an Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities’ Global Strategy on REDD. The strategy makes reference to a number of overarching principles, including a human-rights approach to all REDD activities on the basis of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples in REDD activities. It also stresses the need to distinguish between reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation as a goal that interests all climate change stakeholders including indigenous peoples (redd) and the use of term REDD to signify possible future policies and instruments designed to achieve this goal.
Keywords: redd, forests, food security, environmental stewardship, traditional knowledge

Tamaynut, IPACC & Conservation International pan-African indigenous peoples’ consultative conference on Climate Change: Adaptation and Mitigation
IPACC | 2008-11-10
Summary: Indigenous peoples’ representatives from twelve African countries, representing hunter-gatherers, nomadic herders and oasis dwellers ended a four day conference in Marrakech, Morocco with a firm commitment to greater engagement with international and national policy forums on climate change.
Keywords: Africa, food security, environmental stewardship, traditional knowledge

Pre-Columbian Urbanism, Anthropogenic Landscapes, and the Future of the Amazon
Science (Michael J. Heckenberger) | 2008-08-29
Summary: The archaeology of pre-Columbian polities in the Amazon River basin forces a reconsideration of early urbanism and long-term change in tropical forest landscapes. We describe settlement and land-use patterns of complex societies on the eve of European contact (after 1492) in the Upper Xingu region of the Brazilian Amazon. These societies were organized in articulated clusters, representing small independent polities, within a regional peer polity. These patterns constitute a “galactic” form of prehistoric urbanism, sharing features with small-scale urban polities in other areas. Understanding long-term change in coupled human-environment systems relating to these societies has implications for conservation and sustainable development, notably to control ecological degradation and maintain regional biodiversity.
Keywords: latin america, forests, traditional knowledge, environmental stewardship

Early flowers, new fish - late berries, few whales
Climate Frontlines Forum | 2008-07-23
Summary: Participants in the Climate Frontlines project have submitted to the Forum their observations of environmental shifts attributed to climate change.
Keywords: wellbeing, indigenous assessments, environmental stewardship

Indigenous Communities, tourism and Biodiversity Workshop Series: New Information and Web-based technologies: Island workshop
Convention on Biological Diversity | 2008-05-11
Summary: The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity is organizing a series of workshops on new information and web-based technologies within indigenous communities. The workshop series aims to support the management of biodiversity-friendly tourism activities, the web-based capacity of indigenous tourism operators, and the marketing of the culturally and biologically sustainable aspects of indigenous tourism products. The workshops are also intended to be fora for networking and exchange of information on specific challenges facing indigenous tourism This second workshop of the series, focusing on islands, took place in Apia, Samoa, between 3-5 November 2008. One of the most useful results is a methodology to evaluate websites according to sustainability objectives defined through participative planning.
Keywords: traditional knowledge, tourism, marine, environmental stewardship

UNPFII Workshop: Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change: Mobilizing Collaborative Action
UNPFII | 2008-04-25
This day long even brought together Indigenous participants, representatives from multilateral agencies, NGOs, businesses and foundations to address the impacts of climate change on Indigenous Peoples, the needs and priorities for climate change mitigation and adaptation responses, the response mechanisms and approaches for mitigation and adaptation that are currently being implemented or negotiated, and a way forward for collaborative action.

Workshop: Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples held in Solola, Guatemala on 7-9 February 2008
CICA/CIMA | 2008-02-09
More than 70 Indigenous representatives from Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama attended this workshop to discuss climate change, REDD, adaptation and mitigation, and specific regional and national strategies for climate change. Some of the conclusions from the workshop included the need for capacity development and participatory mechanisms that allow Indigenous Peoples to be involved in discussions on climate change, the need to develop a strategy that links community organizations with inernational and national networks, the mandate for CICA and CIMA to request a meeting with the World Bank to discuss climate change impacts on Indigenous Peoples, and to create information networks for Indigenous Peoples on climate change.

 

Research, Reports & Local observations

Polar Research, Volume 28, Number 1, April 2009: special edition on change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability in the Arctic
Norwegian Polar Institute | 2009-04-01
Summary: Edited by James Ford and Chris Furgal, the special edition features the
following manuscripts:

  • Climate impacts, adaptation and vulnerability in the Arctic by James D. Ford and Chris Furgal
  • Community Collaboration and Climate Change Research in the Canadian
    Arctic by Tristan Pearce et al.
  • Arctic Climate Change Discourse: The Contrasting Politics of Research Agendas in the West and Russia By: Bruce Forbes and Florian Stammler
  • Community Clusters in Wildlife and Environmental Management: Using TEK and Community Involvement to Improve Co-Management in an Era of Rapid Environmental Change By: Martha Dowsley
  • The Role of Governance in Community Adaptation to Climate ChangeBy: E. Carina H. Keskitalo and Antonina A. Kulyasova
  • A Reindeer Herder’s Perspective on Caribou, Weather, and Socio-Economic Change on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska By: Kumi Rattenbury et al.
  • Canadian Inuit Subsistence and Ecological Instability - If the Climate Changes, Must the Inuit? By: George Wenzel
  • Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate-Related Fire Impacts in Rural and Urban Interior Alaska By: Sarah Trainor et al.
  • Demographic and Environmental Conditions are Uncoupled in the Social-Ecological System of the Pribilof Islands By: Henry Huntington et al.
  • From Good to Eat to Good to Watch: Whale Watching, Adaptation and  Change in Icelandic Fishing Communities By: Niels Einarsson

Keywords: Arctic, adaptation

State of biodiversity in the Nordic countries
Nordic Council of Ministers | 2009-03-11
Summary: The report shows that biodiversity has declined in the Nordic
countries since 1990. In particular, farmland, mire, grassland and heathland habitats show declines in biodiversity. The report concludes that it is highly unlikely that the target of halting biodiversity loss by 2010 can be achieved by the Nordic countries.
Keywords: Arctic, biodviersity, environmental stewardship, indigenous assessments

Indigenous Perspectives on Climate Change: Australia
UNU-IAS / Kowanyama Aboriginal Land and Natural Resources Management Office (Australia) | 2009-01-31
Summary: The UNU-IAS Traditional Knowledge Initiative, in conjunction with the Kowanyama Aboriginal Land and Natural Resources Management Office, Cape York Peninsular, Australia, presents a video brief about the effects of climate change on Kowanyama, a coastal indigenous community in tropical Queensland, Australia. The short presentation is told from the perspectives of Kowanyama and highlights the impacts of rising sea levels on the community due to climatic global warming.
Keywords: multimedia, indigenous assessment, marine, environmental stewardship

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD): A Guide for Indigenous Peoples
United Nations University (UNU-IAS) | 2008-12-01 
Summary: This is a short guide for indigenous communities to climate change and to the current international debate surrounding REDD. Section 1 introduces the location and features of the world’s forests, and explains deforestation and forest degradation, and their causes and effects. Section 2 explains climate change, notes the impacts of climate change on indigenous peoples, outlines the role of the forestry sector in both contributing to and fighting climate change, and introduces the concept of REDD. Section 3 explains the international regime set up to address climate change, namely the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol. It also explains how this climate regime addresses indigenous peoples and how it deals with the forestry sector. Section 4 outlines international activity on REDD, both under the UNFCCC and in other conventions and institutions. Finally, Section 5 canvasses some potential opportunities and risks for indigenous groups to think about, and some tools and fora to consider, in advocating a position on REDD.
Keywords: redd, forests, environmental stewardship

UNU-IAS Report: Bioprospecting in the Arctic
United Nations University (UNU-IAS) | 2008-07-28
Summary: For many years bioprospecting has been one of the most controversial issues in environmental diplomacy. A key development in this debate was the negotiation of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity. While much of the debate on bioprospecting has centered on the mega-diverse tropical countries of the developing South there has been only limited focus on whether bioprospecting is also an issue for other regions of the world. However, recent developments in biotechnology developed from the biodiversity of other areas of the planet such as Antarctica and the deep-sea beyond national jurisdiction (highlighted in previous reports by UNU-IAS) clearly show that both scientific and commercial interest in biodiversity is no longer just confined to the mega-diverse countries of the South.
Keywords: marine, arctic, tundra, biodiversity

Ecological Applications Supplement Issue: Arctic Marine Mammals and Climate Change
Ecological Society of America | 2008-04-01
Summary: The April Special Issue of Ecological Applications examines potential effects of climate change on arctic marine mammals, puts them in historical context, and describes possible conservation measures to mitigate them.
Keywords: arctic, tundra, environmental stewardship, biodiversity

Arctic Climate Impact Science - an Update since ACIA
WWF | 2008-05-12
Summary: "Arctic Climate Impact Science - an Update since ACIA," reviews related science publications and impacts that have been published since the original report in 2005. The report is organized in thematic sections, each reviewing the most relevant scientific literature published in recent years. A summary, based on recommendations from the reviewers, highlights the most prominent developments in the Arctic during a period when several key arctic systems have experienced more rapid change than anticipated. The conclusion section interprets the relevance of the main findings for arctic and global policymakers, and outlines a road forward for arctic environmental protection.
Keywords: arctic, tundra, environmental stewardship

The Caribbean and Climate Change: The Costs of Inaction
Environmental Defense Fund (Ramón Bueno, Cornelia Herzfeld, Elizabeth A. Stanton, and Frank Ackerman) | 2008-06-25 
Summary: This study on the cost of climate change in Florida compares two possibilities - an optimistic rapid stabilization case and a pessimistic business-as-usual case – and focuses on three categories of effects: hurricane damages, loss of tourism revenue, and infrastructure damage due to sea-level rise. The costs of inaction, or the difference between these two scenarios, are the potential savings from acting in time to prevent the worst economic consequences of climate change. The report points out that, although Caribbean nations have contributed little to the release of the greenhouse gases that drive climate change, they will pay a heavy price for global inaction in reducing emissions.
Keywords: caribbean, marine, environmental stewardship

Pre-Columbian Urbanism, Anthropogenic Landscapes, and the Future of the Amazon
Science (Michael J. Heckenberger) | 2008-08-29 
Summary: The archaeology of pre-Columbian polities in the Amazon River basin forces a reconsideration of early urbanism and long-term change in tropical forest landscapes. We describe settlement and land-use patterns of complex societies on the eve of European contact (after 1492) in the Upper Xingu region of the Brazilian Amazon. These societies were organized in articulated clusters, representing small independent polities, within a regional peer polity. These patterns constitute a “galactic” form of prehistoric urbanism, sharing features with small-scale urban polities in other areas. Understanding long-term change in coupled human-environment systems relating to these societies has implications for conservation and sustainable development, notably to control ecological degradation and maintain regional biodiversity.
Keywords: latin america, forests, traditional knowledge, environmental stewardship