Indigenous Peoples in Poznan protested today at the exclusion of the word “rights” from the Draft COP14 Decision text on REDD. They chanted “No rights, no REDD.”
“The indigenous people are profoundly concerned as our basic rights have been violated,” Marcial Arias Garcia, from Panama and the International Alliance of Indigenous-Tribal People of the World, told Reuters.
Here are some photos from the action. More photos available here.
Thank you for sharing the photos and stories. I could not make it to Poznan, but glad that many people did and are making indigenous concerns known.
It is quiet unfortunate that the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand removed all references to the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities from the UN technical discussions on REDD (taking place in the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, SBSTA). It is a political move violating Human Rights. I am wondering why the administrations are worried on the “Rights of It’s own People”?
Having lived in the Peruvian Amazon for five years I can easily say that the biggest threat to the forest is slash and burn agriculture. This is done by both mestizo and Native populations and must be stopped. However removing the native people from the land will be impossible – education is the key. The idea of the “noble savage” living in harmony is a lie depending on which tribe you look at – some tribes care about nature some are more interested in cars and mobile phones. Logging is a way to make money – if you really want to stop local people logging and slash and burn you are going to have to offer them an alternative income.
The bottom line is the deforestation – the conversion of 500 year old trees into toilet roll – must stop whethe rlocals like it or not.