The Negative Impacts of Climate Change in Indigenous Communities

 

Written by: Mutia Morris

https://btlonline.org/u-s-indigenous-communities-building-capacity-to-confront-climate-change/

       Climate change is such a huge issue for everyone living on planet earth. If you do not understand the specifics of climate change, it's a change in weather than what it usually is. According to NASA, " Climate change is also a change in Earth's climate. This could be a change in Earth's usual temperature. Or it could be a change in where rain and snow usually fall on Earth." Although in certain locations there are communities that are affected by climate change a lot more. In this case, a lot of indigenous communities are affected by climate change.

       Climate change has been the topic of discussion for many years and there has always been a debate about whether it is a real issue. Personally, there is no doubt in my mind about it being real. There is an obvious change in the climate. I'm sure if you were to ask anybody in any indigenous community, they wouldn't deny the fact that the climate is changing. The reason being is because they are being affected by it more detrimentally. In most indigenous communities there is more reliance on the natural treasures of the earth. Natural resources do not do good when they are affected by climate change.

       In an article I read named, " The Disproportionate Impact of Climate Change on Indigenous Communities", stated, " However, marginalized communities, including indigenous groups, are often the people most affected by devastating storms, flooding, or fires." The article also stated that even the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs agrees that climate change negatively affects indigenous communities more. They stated, " Climate change poses threats and dangers to the survival of Indigenous communities worldwide, even though Indigenous peoples contribute the least to greenhouse gas emissions. (KCET,2019)" There is an obvious need to get climate change under control. Not only because of the change in weather but for so many more reasons.

       Yes, climate change is known for the change in usual weather, and on the surface that does not sound like a need for concern but, it is so much deeper than that. According to the United Nations, " Climate change exacerbates the difficulties already faced by indigenous communities including political and economic marginalization, loss of land and resources, human rights violations, discrimination and unemployment." They also mentioned many examples of these effects: in the Saami communities of Finland, Norway, and Sweden they rely on reindeers and since climate change caused it to rain and have higher temperatures in the winter the reindeers are unable to eat what they need to survive, and this causes the reindeers to die off. Another example is the indigenous peoples of Africa's Kalahari Desert have to rely on the government for survival because of the temperature rising higher than normal (Climate Change and Indig. Peoples). There are so many indigenous communities that range from all around the world that can die because of climate change and because of that, there is an immediate need for concern.

       As I stated earlier there is a huge debate on whether climate change is real and that can cause a problem when trying to find a way to solve the problem especially in the political and governmental community. The indigenous communities are already not taken care of properly in most locations and most are invisible, so their concerns with climate change are not put on a platform where they are heard properly. They must protest and go to the courts to be heard and we can see that by the Idle No More movement, the pipeline protests, the uranium mine protests, etc. So, there are obvious hiccups when it comes to trying to solve the problems. According to the Brookings Institute, which is a think tank they have stated a few reasons for handling climate change. The Brookings Institute stated, " The explanations fall into at least four categories: complexity; jurisdiction and accountability; collective action and trust; and imagination." To sum it up properly with collective action and trust not everybody is willing to come together to limit certain consumptions to lower greenhouse gas emissions. With imagination, it is better to understand certain things with film, fiction books, etc and not everybody is willing to open an academic book to learn. With jurisdiction and accountability, there is a jurisdiction with what countries can do and other countries cannot control how they use greenhouse gases. Lastly, with the complexity, it is hard to tell what the culprit is in what causes climate change to happen.

       Ultimately, the indigenous communities who do not even contribute to an influx of greenhouse gas emissions are the ultimate victim of climate change. We need to take climate change seriously before more deaths, government reliability, animals going extinct, and land, oceans, and natural resources are affected. We tend to forget and push the indigenous communities to the side and give them the short end of the stick and that is not okay. Yes, climate change affects everybody on earth but while we are saving ourselves, we cannot forget to save the indigenous peoples as well, because this is their home too.

 

 

Sources:

Brooking Institution. "The Challenging Politics of Climate Change." 2019, https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-challenging-politics-of-climate-change/. Accessed 12 March 2021.

Laduzinsky, Paige. "The Disproportionate Impact of Climate Change on Indigenous Communities." KCET, 2019, https://www.kcet.org/shows/tending-nature/the-disproportionate-impact-of-climate-change-on-indigenous-communities. Accessed 12 March 2021.

NASA. "What Is Climate Change?" NASA, 2014, https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-climate-change-k4.html. Accessed 12 March 2021.

United Nations. "Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples." https://www.un.org/en/events/indigenousday/pdf/Backgrounder_ClimateChange_FINAL.pdf. Accessed 12 March 2021.