UNDRIP Report - English FINAL - International Forum on Globalization

needs to ask people, and listen very carefully to,
what the grassroots community’s answers are.
When it comes to governments, Kruse said, “What
we need to do is to figure out how to show them that,
by acting ethically and listening to and working with
indigenous peoples, they can: 1) secure resources to
do the good things that they should be doing, and 2)
play a political leadership role, which is part of what
they are supposed to be doing.” With progressive
governments, and governments striving to be
progressive, Kruse said that we face a ”challenge of
how to positively engage governments, instead of
attacking and criticizing. Social movements can begin
to push forward government’s coherence.”
Discussion
Tom Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental
Network said Tauli-Corpuz addressed crucial
moments in the path of the UNFCCC. He felt it
important to note certain steps in the struggle, so that
people could understand the history of why “the
trust factor” in the role of NGOs (and the protocols
for working with indigenous peoples and securing
indigenous support for their agendas) is extremely
important.
In the late 1990s, when the Kyoto Protocol was being
ratified and its modalities were being developed,
there was a push by nation-states to allow “carbon
sinks,” such as forests, into the CDM. Goldtooth said,
“There was consistent resistance by indigenous
peoples within the UNFCCC, opposing carbon
market mechanisms.”
In 2000, at a meeting in The Hague, indigenous
peoples, many NGOs, and some nation-states
resisted the inclusion of counting emissions
reductions from carbon sinks. The debate over sinks
was what sunk any agreements coming out of The
Hague. NGOs supported indigenous concerns that
including forests in carbon markets could negatively
affect their rights.
In 2001 in Bonn, political pressure by nation-states,
large NGOs, and transnational corporations forced
concessions and compromise. “At Bonn, the Third
<strong>International</strong> <strong>Forum</strong> of Indigenous Peoples and Local
Communities on Climate Change strongly opposed
any UNFCCC mitigation measures based on
mercantilist and utilitarian visions of the forests, seas,
territories, and resources of our indigenous peoples.
These mechanisms conflicted with and negated our
traditional cultural practices and spiritual values,”
Goldtooth said.
“So, there was a line drawn at that time where
indigenous peoples felt that our position was
abandoned in the negotiations. There were no
answers in Bonn to our questions about securing the
right of indigenous peoples’ representation in the
UNFCCC,” Goldtooth claimed. Our concerns about
the importance of using our own traditional
knowledge in dealing with climate change,
mitigation, and adaptation, as well as our need for
funding, weren’t heard, and this problem still
continues to this day,” Goldtooth argued.
Athena Ballesteros of the World Resources Institute
supported Kruse’s point by adding, “Everybody has
to realize that the landscape is changing. When we
went into Bali, ten years after Kyoto, everything was
different,” she said. “There was that moment in Bali
that confirmed where the real power now lies: when
China spoke from the floor and drove the UNFCCC
Secretary to tears.” Ballesteros noted how some of the
more bold and ambitious proposals have actually
come out of the G77 countries, “which we have never
seen before. That scale of ambition, that level of
ambition, has never manifested itself from any group
of governments,” she said.
Ballesteros also proposed ways to institutionalize
indigenous peoples’ representation in UNFCCC
negotiations. While she agreed that a formalized
indigenous working group could be useful, it might
be more important to participate directly in the
governance structures of the UNFCCC’s distinct
mechanisms, such as the REDD mechanism.
Ballesteros believes indigenous peoples have a much
greater chance than NGOs at getting a seat at some of
the governance structures.
Joseph Ole Simel of the Mainyoito Pastoralist
Integrated Development Organization in Kenya
raised the questions “What capacity do indigenous
peoples have when they negotiate with the
governments? And how do we raise that capacity?”
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