UNESCO

Climate change
and indigenous peoples
Over 400 million indigenous people live
in territories that are highly vulnerable
to the impacts of climate change. They
are experiencing its effects even though
they contribute little to its causes. It is
threatening their way of life, and this
in turn will affect the world’s cultural
and biological diversity. The voices of
indigenous people are often side-lined
in climate change debates, but they rang
clearly at an international conference
organized by UNESCO and France’s
National Natural History Museum with
the support of the indigenous peoples’
organization Tebtebba. ‘Resilience in a
Time of Uncertainty: Indigenous Peoples
and Climate Change’ brought scientists,
decision-makers and representatives of
indigenous peoples to UNESCO
Headquarters on 26 and 27 November.
Indigenous peoples’ knowledge systems
can strengthen the climate change
knowledge base. They presented
details of these and of communitybased
solutions which highlight the
links between cultural diversity and
environmental sustainability. For
the past ten years UNESCO has been
supporting local knowledge systems and
community-based activity that draws on
them, through its Local and Indigenous
Knowledge Systems (LINKS) initiative.
Furthermore, concerning cultural
heritage being both impacted by climate
change and a source of resilience, the
World Heritage Centre contributed to
the organization, during COP21, of a side
event by US/ICOMOS, ICOMOS France and
the American Planning Association on
Tuesday, 1 December 2015. The process
initiated through this event represented
a major opportunity for UNESCO
to strengthen its cooperation and
contributions to the IPCC, leveraging
on its leading role and networks in the
culture sector, in order to improve the
treatment of cultural heritage in the
next IPCC Assessment Report.
Finally, a special event was also
organized to discuss how underwater
cultural heritage can provide vital
evidence about the way human
populations have adapted to, or
been affected by, climate changes in
the past. For over 90 per cent of the
existence of humankind, the sea was
about 40-130 meters lower than the
level of today. A substantial amount
of prehistoric and historic evidence of
human life is now submerged.
Tweets sent out by
UNESCO a few days
before the start of
COP21, to create
momentum and
raise awareness
on the impact of
climate change on
indigenous peoples
worldwide.
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