INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’
GLOBAL SUMMIT ON CLIMATE CHANGE
FINAL REPORT (4 MB) - Click here
BACKGROUND
The Inuit Circumpolar Council hosted April 20-24, 2009 in Anchorage, Alaska a Global Summit on Climate Change that brought together indigenous delegates and observers.
The purpose of the summit was to enable Indigenous peoples from all regions of the globe to exchange their knowledge and experience in adapting to the impacts of climate change, and to develop key messages and recommendations to be articulated to the world at the Conference of Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009.
Indigenous Peoples from all regions of the world depend upon the natural environment.Their rich and detailed traditional knowledge reflects and embodies a cultural and spiritual relationship with the land, ocean and wildlife.
However, human activity is changing the world’s climate and altering the natural environment to which Indigenous Peoples are so closely attached and on which they so heavily rely.
In a very real sense, therefore, Indigenous Peoples are on the front lines of climate change. They observe climate and environmental changes first-hand and use traditional knowledge and survival skills to adapt to these changes as they occur. Moreover, they must do so at a time when their cultures and livelihoods are already undergoing significant changes due, in part, to the accelerated development of natural resources from their traditional territories stimulated by trade liberalization and globalization.
Reflecting their position as “stewards” of the environment and drawing upon their age-old traditional knowledge—the heart of their cultural resilience—Indigenous Peoples were among the first groups to call upon national governments, transnational corporations and civil society to do more to protect the Earth and human society from climate change.
Indigenous delegates were selected from each of the UNPFII regions, with a view to ensuring balanced representation of professional expertise, gender balance and stakeholder participation within the available funds. Additional participants include both indigenous representatives and observers, who were interested in attending the Summit and were able to fund their own costs.
The United Nations University (UNU) assisted the Summit in synthesizing relevant background information and providing logistical and media support. During the Summit, UNU provided substantive assistance in the form of rapporteuring, writing reports and proceedings, and aiding the Summit organizers with auditing procedures.
