Conversationswith the Earth

Indigenous Voices on Climate Change

Endala Tilbe, “Ade”– Gamo – Doko, Ethiopia

Conversations with the Earth (CWE) is a way of listening closely to traditional custodians of the world’s biocultural diversity in order to formulate viable global responses to environmental challenges. CWE’s opening conversation brings Indigenous Voices on Climate Change to convey local experiences of climate change. Grounded in respectful long-term partnership between indigenous-led organizations and award-winning experts in participatory video, journalism, photography, and audio, CWE conveys local accounts of the impacts of climate change on indigenous communities, stories of the unintended consequences of imposed mitigation e�orts on local livelihoods, and examples of traditional knowledge and its value in developing appropriate responses to climate change. CWE asserts indigenous peoples’ inherent rights to their territories, lands, and resources as a necessary condition of maintaining and enhancing resilience of local social-ecological systems to multiple converging global crises, including climate change.

.Conversations with the Earth

Kabul

Islamabad

New Delhi

KathmanduThimphu

Dhaka

Rangoon

Bangkok

Vientiane

Phnom Penh

Hanoi

Kuala Lumpur

Jakarta

Dili

Manila

Bandar Seri Begawan

Ngerulmud

Ashgabat

Tehran

Riyadh

Kuwait City

Manama

Doha

Abu Dhabi

Muscat

Baku

Canberra

Antananarivo

Saint-Denis

Port Louis

Victoria

Diego Garcia

Malé

Dushanbe

Bishkek

Tashkent

Astana

Beijing

Ulaanbaatar

Pyongyang

Seoul

Tokyo

Port Moresby

Flying Fish Cove

West Island

Tarawa

Yaren

Funafuti

Mata-Utu

Kingston

Apia

Nuku?alofa

Suva

Nouméa

Port Vila

Honiara

PalikirMajuro

Hagåtña

Saipan

Wellington

Hong KongMacao

Singapore

Sri Jayawardhanepura Kotte

Taipei City

The Valley

Saint John's

Buenos Aires Montevideo

Asunción

La Paz

Santiago

Lima

Quito

Bogotá D.C.

Caracas

Georgetown

Nuuk (Godthåb)

Ottawa

Mexico City

Saint-Pierre

Hamilton

Guatemala City

Belmopan

San Salvador

Managua

San José

Panama City

ParamariboCayenne

Brasília

George Town

Havana

Nassau

Cockburn Town

Port-au-Prince

Kingston

Santo Domingo

San Juan

Charlotte Amalie

Road Town

Gustavia

Marigot

Basseterre

Plymouth

Basse-Terre

Roseau

Fort-de-France

Castries

BridgetownKingstown

St. George’s

Port of Spain

Willemstad

Oranjestad

Stanley

King Edward Point

Juneau

Honolulu

Mariehamn

Tirana

Algiers

Andorra la Vella

Luanda

BaghdadDamascus

AmmanJerusalem

Cairo

Sana‘a

AsmaraKhartoum

N'Djamena

Niamey

Bamako

Ouagadougou

Yamoussoukro AccraLomé

Porto-Novo

Abuja

Yaoundé

Bangui

Malabo

Brazzaville

Libreville

Kinshasa

Kampala

NairobiKigali

Bujumbura

Dar Es Salaam

Mogadishu

Addis Ababa

Djibouti

Yerevan

Tbilisi

Ankara

Nicosia

Beirut

Athens

Skopje

Podgorica

Belgrade

Sofia

Bucharest

Chisinau

Kiev

Budapest

Vienna

Sarajevo

ZagrebLjubljana

Prague

Bratislava

Warsaw

Minsk

Vilnius

Riga

Tallinn

HelsinkiOslo

Stockholm

Copenhagen

BerlinAmsterdam

Brussels

Luxembourg

ParisSaint Helier

BernVaduz

Rome

Vatican

City of San Marino

Monaco

Madrid

Lisbon

London

Dublin

Douglas

Reykjavík

Tórshavn

Angra do Heroísmo

Ponta Delgada

Horta

Funchal

Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Lusaka

Lilongwe

Maputo

Harare

Lobamba

Maseru

Pretoria

Gaborone

Windhoek

Moroni

Moscow

Praia

Monrovia

Freetown

Conakry

Bissau

Dakar

Banjul

Nouakchott

Rabat

Tunis

Tripoli

Valletta

São Tomé

Longyearbyen

Pristina

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OM

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QA

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IR

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INDIA

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PAPUA NEW GUINEA

SAMOA

ETHIOPIA

CAMEROON

KENYA

ALASKA

PANAMA

ECUADOR

BRAZILPERU

ANUNAVUT

ALTAI REPUBLIC

C

ALBERTA

Manus Manus, Pitilu & Ahus Islands

ZanskariKumik Village

Guarani Guaraqueçaba & Antonina

Kichwa Mojandita Village

Gwich'in Arctic village

AltaiElo, Kurai & Kosh-Agach Villages

Igorot Itogon

Maasai Oltopesi

Kuna Ustupu Island

Comcaac / Yaqui Punta Chueca, Desemboque & Vicam

Baka Mayos Village & Beroua

Quechua / Aymara Cochas Grande, Karhui, Lircay, Chaka, Perka & Huancavelica

Tagata Mao’iFasito'otai & Fagamalo VillagesPeoples

Geographic place

CWE Participatory Video Story

CWE Photostory

CWE Media Hub

InuitCambridge Bay

Cree / DeneFort McMurray / Fort Chipewyan

Gamo Doko Village & Gamo Highlands

Map of CWE indigenous climate change stories to date - 2011

.Core Beliefs

“We have knowledge that can contribute to finding solutions to the crisis of climate change. But if you’re not prepared to listen, how can we communicate this to you?” Marcos Terena, Xané leader, Brazil.

Jimmy John – Gwich’in hunter, at his winter camp – Arctic Village, Alaska

Traditional and Indigenous communities depend on a healthy relationship with the land and therefore possess a wealth of knowledge, wisdom, and practical experience in adapting to long-term changes in their environment. Still, indigenous communities are extremely vulnerable to the current unprecedented rate of global climate change, with its large-scale external disruptions to the web of life. This threat to traditional communities is a threat to the entire human family. Proposed or implemented responses to the common challenges of climate change will fall short, unless they are grounded in a recognition of the territorial, land, and resource rights of Indigenous peoples. The traditional ecological knowledge, wisdom and practices of Indigenous peoples comprise the global biocultural heritage that must inform and guide climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies at global, regional and local scales.

.Why now?

“Our proverb says: ‘The ox never gives birth, and it never rains in the dry season.’ But now we have rains in the dry season, and it’s dry in the rainy season.”Shagre Shano Shale (Gamo), Ethiopia.

Enset propagation field – Doko village, Ethiopia

Compared to the dominant industrialized societies, Indigenous Peoples have contributed least to climate change. Still, they suffer the brunt of the immediate and direct effects of escalating climate disruption. Despite the September 2007 adoption by the UN General Assembly of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), Indigenous Peoples continue to be excluded from the UN climate negotiations – the embodiment of climate injustice. At this critical time of global decision-making, Indigenous voices have important knowledge and wisdom to contribute to the global discourse on climate change that guides global choices in shaping our collective future. From Manus Islanders in Papua New Guinea working together to save their oceanside homes, to Maasai villagers in Kenya responding to a cattle-killing drought in the open grasslands, Conversations with the Earth works to enable local Indigenous communities to create and share first-hand accounts of their experience of climate change.

.Who?

Josefina Lema – Mojandita, Ecuador

“I make a call to all the people, to all the world, that we shouldn’t destroy, we should continue leaving the bad aside, and take care.” Josefina Lema (Kichwa), Mojandita, Ecuador.

Conversations with the Earth (CWE) was founded in 2009 by an international indigenous-led advocacy and education organization for the rights of Indigenous Peoples, Land Is Life; renowned experts in participatory video, InsightShare; and award-winning photographer and expert in sustaining oral traditions, Nicolas Villaume, founder of Conversations du Monde. CWE has also benefited from contributions from a range of writers and editorial sources. Today, Conversations with the Earth is a growing network of indigenous groups and communities living in critical ecosystems around the world, from the Atlantic Rainforest to Central Asia, from the Philippines to the Andes, from the Arctic to Ethiopia. As part of CWE, the indigenous communities share their local stories of climate change impacts and adaptation strategies with each other and the global community. Around the world, CWE supports and networks communities developing sustainable autonomous indigenous media based on principles of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), local control and support for local indigenous media capacity.

.Evolving Conversation

Amos Tapo – Pitilu island, Papua New Guinea

“You rich countries are very happy about what you’re doing, going about your business, not knowing that your actions are damaging our reefs and our islands.”John Pondrein (Manus), Papua New Guinea

Conversations with the Earth (CWE) premiered as a major multimedia exhibition at the watershed 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) of the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark (December 2009). Since then, CWE has continued to bring Indigenous voices on climate change to key meetings around the world through CWE's mobile exhibits in Spanish and English, participatory video screenings at film festivals, and in-person presentations of delegates from CWE partner communities. Venues have included the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba, Bolivia; the 10th International Festival of Film and Video of Indigenous Peoples in Quito, Ecuador; the US Social Forum in Detroit, Michigan; the UNFCCC COP 16 meeting on climate change in Cancun, Mexico; and National Geographic's All Roads Film Festival in Washington, DC. Most recently, CWE's major exhibit was on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Indian in Washington, DC from 22 July 2011 - 2 January 2012.

Gwich’in territory, near Arctic Village – Alaska, USA

“We don’t have much, but what we have is out there.” Charley Swaney, Arctic Village community member.

The CWE exhibits and web-based resources are an open invitation to the world toengage in a conversation about the real impacts of climate change on Indigenouscommunities, and to grow a global network of sharing, reflection, action andsupport. To carry forward the momentum generated over the last two years, CWEhas been organizing trainings on Indigenous rights, climate change policy, andparticipatory media; creating new photostories with Indigenous communities; and,enhancing local capacity to connect and share with each other and the rest of theworld through holding retreats, participating in global gatherings and using socialmedia. CWE continues to focus on climate change, but is also exploring issuesrelated to local food systems, food sovereignty and sacred sites - fundamentalelements of Indigenous wellbeing.

Guaraquecaba - Brazil

Contact Conversations with the Earth (CWE)

Casey Box, CWE Coordinatorcasey@conversationsearth.org+1 9177203641 / +1 6468126255

Follow CWE facebook.com/conversationsearthyoutube.com/conversationsearthTwitter: @ConversEarth

www.conversationsearth.org

“We are a harbinger of what is to come, what the rest of the world can expect.” Patricia Cochran (Inupiat), Chair of the

2009 Indigenous Peoples Global Summit on Climate Change.