The Indigenous Plight Caused by Global Warming by Chris Shawe
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The Indigenous Plight Caused by
Global Warming and Climate Change
By Chris Shawe
Indigenous life in the Arctic is changing daily from the affects of global warming. Climate changes have
become the source of insurmountable problems for Arctic life, leaving a struggle to preserve traditional
knowledge, and methods of biodiversity that have historically had a place in indigenous cultures.
Traditional lifestyles of indigenous families such as hunting, fishing, and building homes are now
dissipating, leaving many hungry and without shelter. As climatic conditions worsen, hunters are unable
to read ice conditions and determine habitable situations normally relied upon by traditional
knowledge. At the same time, some traditional knowledge has helped many families get through the
hard changing times, becoming a resourceful strategy lessening the impact of global warming.
Though, how long will it be before traditional knowledge and methods used by the ‘natural caretakers’
of the earth possibly become extinct due to the growing climatic conditions?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] in Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation
and Vulnerability, reported that changes in the Arctic have numerous impacts on the ecosystem. The
“additional impacts include reductions in the extent of sea ice and permafrost, increased coastal erosion
and an increase in the depth of permafrost seasonal thawing.” This directly supports the premise of the
immediate dangers now evolving from global warming for Arctic life.
John Scott, Social Affairs Officer at the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity stated,
"what has been missing in all the research done on global warming and the loss of biodiversity has been
an examination of the social factors, or a look at the 'human face' of the phenomenon ‐‐ it is clear that
indigenous and local communities highly vulnerable to climate changes are providing that face." These
vulnerable indigenous communities, which are growing in numbers now provide a voice that
demonstrates the troubling position the Earth is presently experiencing as degradation is furthered by
climatic conditions.
Can we all as a global audience afford to ignore these alarming situations that are greatly affecting
indigenous life?
From the May 17, 2007 panel discussion on climate change, Christopher Peters of the Seventh
Generation Fund for Indian Development said, "like a stone dropped in a lake or a pond, the ripples of
climate change will impact all species on earth, and drought, flood, hurricanes, heat waves, the melting
polar ice caps, the shrinking mountain glaciers and increasing sea levels ‐‐ all of our relations will be
impacted."
Helping Arctic indigenous life is one of the possible contributions the global community could make to
become instrumental in addressing the human impact of global warming. Otherwise, if we fail to help
indigenous communities severely threatened by global warming, mankind will find itself in dire straits
for neglecting the ‘natural caretakers.’
In fact, Indigenous life in the Arctic may soon fall victim to what I call RDP’s (Racially Displaced Peoples’),
a subset of IDP’s (Internally Displaced Peoples) a category known under International Refugee Law. I first
introduced this subcategory in the evaluation of Hurricane Katrina called “An American Handling Crisis:
The U.S. Disaster Syndrome.” The term was coined with a specific application in mind for displacement
of minorities affected by natural disaster, common to refugee law. However, it is clear that without
assistance from the global community, many indigenous families, in particular in the Arctic, will find
themselves in this rift that is evolving into the RDP category.
Lastly, with limited ability to survive due to the degradation of the environment, indigenous families
face potential extinction ‐‐ the same possible future for all life on the Earth unless humans collectively
take charge of the management of planetary devastation caused by the impact of global warming.