December 2009  Volume 3

Measures to stop global warming risk are as harmful to tribal peoples as climate change itself. A report by Survival International names 4 key "mitigation measures" that threaten tribal people:

1. Biofuels: the new "green" source to replace to fossil fuels requires much land for crops. If biofuel expansion continues as planned, millions of indigenous people worldwide will lose their ancestral lands and livelihoods.

2. Hydro-electric power: A new boom in dam construction to combat climate change is driving thousands of tribal people from their homes.

3. Forest conservation: Kenya’s Ogiek hunter-gatherers are being forced from their forest homelands to "reverse the ravages" of global warming.

4. Carbon offsetting: Tribal peoples’ forests have a monetary value in the booming ‘carbon credits’ market. Indigenous people say this will lead to forced evictions and the "theft of our land".

The report calls for tribal people to be fully involved in decisions that affect them, and for their land ownership rights to be upheld.

Survival Director Stephen Corry said, "This report highlights ‘the most inconvenient truth of all’ – that the world’s tribal people, who have done the least to cause climate change and are most affected by it, are now having their rights violated and land devastated in the name of attempts to stop it. Hiding behind the global push to prevent climate change, governments and companies are mounting a massive land grab. As usual, where money and vast profits are at stake, the world’s indigenous people are being shamefully swept aside."

Read the Report: http://assets.survivalinternational.org/documents/132/survival_climate_change_report_english.pdf

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