After a week of negotiations, a new draft for the Paris agreement on Climate Change was ready on Saturday December 5, writes the Copenhaged-based NGO, IWGIA (Internationale Arbejdsgruppe for Oprindelige Folk) in a press statement Tuesday.
More than 250 indigenous representatives are gathered in Paris for the COP 21 to influence the outcome of the new global Climate Change Agreement.
As the negotiation of the text is entering its final stage, indigenous peoples call out to the world to ensure that solutions to climate change are firmly based on human rights.
Indigenous peoples express concern that the reference to human rights in the operational guidelines has been omitted from the new draft.
They are particularly concerned about the deletion of the references to 'indigenous peoples rights' and 'the integrity of ecosystems'.
While they were previously included in central articles, they are now only mentioned in the preamble (forordet).
Konsekvenser af klimaændringer – og menneskerettighederne
For indigenous peoples it is crucial that solutions to climate change are based on fundamental human rights principles.
“If indigenous peoples rights are not included in the final agreement, we risk that indigenous peoples are excluded from subsequent implementation”, according to IWGIA.
"It is highly problematic to remove the rights of indigenous peoples from the main text of the Paris Agreement, a text that could potentially have a huge impact on indigenous peoples´living conditions and opportunities in the future", warns IWGIA`s Climate Programme Coordinator, Kathrin Wessendorf, from Paris.
"Excluding indigenous peoples from the implementation would also mean excluding indigenous peoples´ substantial contributions to the joint effort to combat climate change", says Kathrin Wessendorf.
Closing in on the last day of negotiations at the COP 21, the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC) has formulated an open letter to stress the importance of explicitly including a reference to the rights of indigenous peoples in Article 2 of the Paris Agreement.
Man kan se det åbne brev til ministrene på
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5627862ce4b07be93cfb9461/t/5665befea128e6cf8a211a3a/1449508606995/English_Version.pdf
Hvem og hvad er oprindelige eller indfødte folk?
Se https://www.verdensskove.org/bliv-klogere/oprindelige-folk
