Humanity vs. Nature – Indigenous communities at the COP26

Am 13. November 2021 endete in Glasgow die 26. UN-Klimakonferenz. Die „Conference of the Parties“ ringte um eine internationale Einigung über den Umgang mit dem Klimawandel. Neben Zehntausenden von Verhandlungsführenden, Regierungsvertretenden, Unternehmen und Bürger*innen waren auch führende Politiker*innen nach Schottland kommen, um zu verhandeln. Aus Glasgow berichten Studierende der TU München auf unserem Blog von Ihren Eindrücken, Hoffnungen und Wünschen für die Konferenz. Heute ein Beitrag von Carmen Autrique Echeveste und Isabel.

As human activity takes over Earth’s land and resources (with 75% of the globe’s surface already under direct exploitation), indigenous communities find themselves at the forefront of the fight against climate change. This year, they finally have a seat at the table during the COP26 conference. But, how strong are their voices being echoes, and how much of them are actually being heard?

Indigenous people are the descendants of those who inhabited a country or geographical region at the time when people from different cultures or ethnic groups arrived. This arrival was in of itself a violent imposition of the newcomer’s way of life, be it through occupation, conquest or settlement, and constituted a shift of power dynamics through which autochthonous communities became endangered minority groups within their own territories.
Nowadays, the main 7, UN recognized, indigenous regions are: Africa; Asia; Central and South America and the Caribbean; the Arctic; Central and Eastern Europe, Russian Federation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia; North America; and the Pacific. With most indigenous communities (around 70%) living in Asia.

Despite only representing 4% of the world population, indigenous communities are the caretakers of 20% of the Earth’s territories, which represent 80% of the planet’s biodiversity. In this way, indigenous people are at the forefront of the fight against climate change, not only as preservers of the world’s main ecosystems, but also as holders of a unique set of skills, philosophies and ways of understanding the natural world, which are known as “Indigenous knowledge”.
This way of understanding their surroundings sets a clear differentiation between indigeous communities and the dominant populations which, through time, have distanced themselves from this particular way of looking at the world. In this sense, and now more than ever, modern societies have a lot to gain from learning from this indigenous knowledge.

But, despite the great mobilization and the clear set of objectives that they have brought to Glasgow, this COP is presenting grim perspectives for indigenous communities as world leaders turn a deaf ear.

This has led to a strong anti-COP sentiment within people from these communities, which do not believe it is possible to improve the situation of their marginalized societies while preserving a colonial, capitalist system. A great representation of this pessimism can be clearly seen in the speech by land defender, Sii-am Hamilton, on Friday the 12th, the closing day for COP26. In her words “COP26 is a performance, an illusion instructed to salvage capital economies rooted in resource extraction and colonialism”, further stating that “corporations and governments who have caused climate change are here right now and they are ignoring us, salvaging their profit and getting away with it. We need to be fighting for COP26 to be obsolete”.

So, seeing the grim picture painted by indigenous activists, is there any chance for a better future?