29 November 2011 | News | Climate Justice and Energy | COP 17
Basic rights
Indigenous groups demand respect of traditional knowledge at UN climate talks
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Nearly a hundred indigenous leaders from different parts of the world arrived in Durban, South Africa, to participate in the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change (COP17).
They brought several proposals to the negotiations, although they are aware that this is not the right place to express their demands mainly because they warn that there are attempts to turn the conference into a platform “for corporations to commodify nature”.
A delegation of the Andean Coordination of Indigenous Organizations (CAOI) is in Durban. The group comprises grassroots groups from Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Chile and Argentina.
In a statement published before the events, they make a series of demands, including the respect for indigenous peoples rights in compliance with the international obligations and treaties such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
They also demand “full and effective” participation of indigenous peoples “at all levels of decision making”, as well as the need to recognize and protect the Indigenous Peoples’ traditional knowledge and their contribution to the adaptation and mitigation strategies.
“We reject the false solutions based on the commodification of nature”, they say in the declaration.
Miguel Palacin Quispe, leader of CAOI, explained in the show La Voz de los Movimientos that indigenous peoples also expect that a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol will be agreed in Durban, even though the commitment does not make any specific reference to indigenous peoples.
The organizations that make up CAOI will demand in Durban the enforcement of the international legal instruments for the protection of indigenous peoples rights, such as Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization and the United Nations declaration mentioned above.
