Indigenous peoples make up about six percent of the world’s population and it is believed that their knowledge and traditions can help address many of today’s challenges in the areas of climate change response and biodiversity.
The focus of this year’s International Day is on the approximately 200 Indigenous Peoples groups who live in voluntary isolation in remote forests and their first contact. These communities live cut off from the rest of the world, subsisting on hunting and gathering, completely dependent on their ecological environment.
‘Their survival is our survival’
“Their stewardship represents an enormous contribution to our global community,” the United Nations said. Secretary-General António Guterres say in message for this day.
As a keeper of knowledge that helps protect some of the most biodiverse areas on our planet and an environmentalist, he said “their survival is our survival.”
Spread across 90 countries, there are an estimated 476 million indigenous people living in our world. These diverse communities comprise an incredible 5,000 cultures and are the primary speakers of the majority of the world’s 7,000 languages, according to to the Food and Agriculture Organization (Food and Agriculture Organization).
Challenges and threats
But these “communities also face serious challenges that threaten their survival, often falling victim to threats and violence,” Mr Guterres said. highlighted.
“Their ancestral homelands and the natural resources they depend on for survival are under siege,” he continued, as extractive and productive industries such as mining, agriculture and transportation have accelerated deforestation and land degradation.
Darío Mejía Montalvo, an indigenous leader from Colombia, advocates for the role of indigenous people as environmental guardians.
“Indigenous peoples around the world have ensured their long-term survival on their territories and the care of biodiversity because they have a knowledge system, a direct relationship with that territory,” said Mejía Montalvo, a member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the new Seminar on Critical Minerals.
“Any impact that happens to biodiversity, to the territories of indigenous peoples, not only affects their rights and integrity, but also affects the rest of humanity,” he stressed.
In an interview with United Nations NewsMr. Mejía Montalvo warned of the need to balance the relationship between investment groups and indigenous peoples, between the value given to capital and the value given to territory and biodiversity.
The Workshop on Critical Minerals for the Energy Transition was established by the UN Secretary-General in April last year with the aim of developing common principles to guide extractive industries to ensure the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is equitable, sustainable and beneficial for all countries.
Back to ‘collective and spiritual work’
Mr. Mejía Montalvo also addressed current developments that impact indigenous peoples, including artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies.
“AI will not save us from natural disasters caused by climate change. We need to go back to our roots, to value the spirit and collective work of Indigenous Peoples,” said the head of the Zenú indigenous community in northern Colombia.
In his message to future generations, Mr. Mejía Montalvo reiterated that this is not the first time that indigenous people have faced adversity and difficult challenges.
“Collective and spiritual work is the main contribution” to humanity and “irreplaceable,” he said.
Right to protection
This year’s International Day theme also reminds us of the right of Indigenous Peoples to protect themselves from unwanted contact, which can expose them to infectious diseases, forced assimilation and the disruption of their cultures, languages and livelihoods.
Marking the Day, Mr. Guterres called for their protection. “Together, let us defend their right to live in peace and dignity,” he concluded.
