STATE OF THE WORLD's INDIGENOUs PEOpLEs - CINU

EMBARGOED UNTIL 14 January 2010STATE OF THE WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLESNot for distributionEnvironmental contamination and degradationcontaminants fromsources such as mining,oil and gas industries, aswell as climate changeand resource depletionhave serious healthconsequences for localindigenous communitiesEnvironmental contamination and degradation are often the direct result ofviolations of the collective rights of indigenous peoples and the continuationof colonial tendencies to exploit indigenous peoples’ land and resources.The environmental contaminants from sources such as mining, oil and gasindustries, as well as climate change and resource depletion have serious healthconsequences for local indigenous communities, and neither governments nortransnational corporations seeking profit in these industries share the values ofconservation and sustainability practised by indigenous peoples for thousandsof years. In some regions such as the Arctic, the contaminants do not evenoriginate in the region; rather, “environmental contaminants such as mercury,other heavy metals, PCBs, DDT, dioxins and other organ chlorines mainlyoriginate in the mid-latitude industrial and agricultural areas of the globe buthave migrated to the Arctic via atmospheric, river and ocean transport. Theirsubsequent bio-magnification in the Arctic food-webs and appearance insubsistence foods such as fish, waterfowl, marine and land mammals, and inthe indigenous people who rely on these foods, is of great concern to Arcticresidents. Potential human health effects include damage to the developingbrain, endocrine and immune systems”. 41Use of pesticides and the health of indigenous peoplesIn 1997, the University of Arizona conducted a study into the health effectsof industrial agricultural pesticides in the homeland of the Yaqui peoplein Sonora, México, who share a common territory between the UnitedStates and Mexico. Yaquis living or working near the fields are exposedto frequent aerial spraying of pesticides. For some, their only source ofwater is contaminated irrigation canals. They carry poisons home inpesticide-soaked clothing, spreading the contamination to their families.The study detected high levels of pesticides in the cord blood of newbornsand in mothers’ milk and found birth defects, learning and developmentdisabilities, leukaemia and other severe problems in children, along withcancer and other illnesses among family members of all ages. Deathsfrom acute pesticide poisoning are increasing. U.S. tribal communitiesare also affected by contamination passed on through the food chain andthe natural environment. Dangerous pesticide use in the United Stateshas increased 33 times since 1945.Source: Guillette, Elizabeth et al. (1998), 347-353.41Statement by Alan J. Parkinson from the Arctic Investigations Programme (2006).168 | CHAPTER V