Arctic Peoples

Copenhagen - Representatives of Indigenous Peoples from across the Arctic are calling on Governments to work with them in tackling the “catastrophic” effects of Climate Change. Bill Erasmus, representing the Arctic Athabaskan Council in Canada, called the situation a “crisis” at a meeting of circumpolar Arctic Indigenous Peoples over the weekend (September 20 & 21).

“The permafrost is melting, homes are destroyed, rivers are rising, lakes are disappearing, migratory patterns are changing, seasons are not the same anymore,” said Erasmus.

“Reindeer herders face the loss of herds, hunters face starvation, trappers are dying because they cannot read ice conditions anymore. People are losing their homes and their lives. Entire communities of Indigenous Peoples are at risk across the Arctic. I think use of the word ‘crisis’ is appropriate.”

The Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples Secretariat organized the meeting. This was the first of several planned meetings for Arctic Indigenous Peoples to compile information and develop recommendations to forward to the eight Nation States within the Arctic Council .

Indigenous Peoples hope their work will lead to international initiatives that will deal with the human dimensions of Climate Change leading up to the Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change to be held in Anchorage, Alaska, in April 2009.

by Clive Tesar

Arctic Indigenous Peoples are engaging in two processes this week to advance climate change action. In Svolvaer, Norway, the Arctic Council meeting is considering future action including a study of materials that contribute to climate change that are not carbon dioxide. These other materials include soot, ozone, and methane.

Meanwhile, other Arctic Leaders are attending a meeting of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues.

This week, the forum is focusing on climate change issues.

Speaking on behalf of the Inuit Circumpolar Council and the Saami Council , Patricia Cochran told the Forum:

“It is clear that in future COPs, the plight of Indigenous Peoples will not be addressed if they are not at the table and not involved in the decision-making. We call upon the United Nations to open the door to indigenous peoples in all matters affecting climate change.” Read the rest of this entry »

By Clive Tesar

Saami in Sweden are demanding that the Swedish government improve protection for traditional Saami reindeer herding territories. The Saami are making the demand in the face of increasing pressures on traditional Saami lands for mining and wind-power developments.

We are at a crisis point in Saami areas whereby the last unexploited Saami areas are being claimed by a mining and wind-power boom,

says Malin Brännström, lawyer for the Swedish Saami Association.

The state has a responsibility to ensure that Saami rights are protected. But the state is currently making it easier and easier for resource projects to go ahead, with no consideration being given to the impacts on traditional Saami livelihoods, such as reindeer herding.

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by Clive Tesar

The Arctic Council has released a version of its Arctic Oil and Gas Assessment, prompting new discussion about the effects of oil and gas development in the Arctic.

Patricia Cochran, Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council , spoke at an event held when the Assessment was released. She recalled the words of another Inuit Leader, Eben Hopson, founder of the ICC, who more than thirty years ago told a major pipeline inquiry

“The politics of the Arctic are no longer the politics of the people, but they are the politics of oil.”

Cochran also pointed to a conclusion reached by Michael Baffrey, one the authors of the Assessment, that

“When local organizations and institutions lack power, local interests are likely to be neglected, so that costs are borne disproportionately by local residents while benefits accrue primarily at the regional and national levels.”

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by Clive Tesar

Canadian Inuit are opposing vigorous lobbying efforts to get the polar bear listed as “threatened” under the American Endangered Species Act. The US government has been considering the action since 2006. Now three conservation groups, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace are threatening to sue the US government to get it to proceed with the listing. Canadian Inuit say the environmentalists are taking aim at the wrong target.

Two organizations that represent Inuit in Canada are disagreeing with the tactic of using the polar bear to try to force the American government to take action on climate change. Duane Smith, the president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (Canada) says,

“I don’t see how listing it as threatened will complement the sustainability of the population. It is climate change that is the problem, not the sustainable hunting of polar bears.”

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By Clive Tesar

People from six villages, three on the Alaskan side of the Bering Strait, and three on the Russian side, are taking part in a ground-breaking monitoring program designed to track changes in the area. The Bering Sea Sub-Network (BSSN) will include the communities of Sand Point, Gambell, and Togiak in Alaska. They will be joined by Nikolskoye, Tymlat and Kanchalan in Russia. These sites provide broad coverage of the Bering Sea, and represent communities with a strong tradition of local and indigenous Knowledge.

This is a wonderful opportunity to draw on the wealth of knowledge possessed by Indigenous Peoples on both sides of the Bering Sea,

says Victoria Gofman, principal investigator of the BSSN.

What struck me as I travelled to the villages has how eager people were to share that knowledge, and to have an opportunity to do something about the changes that are affecting their communities.

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Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat in collaboration with Elonmerkki and the Saami Council are proud to announce that the documentary “Last Yoik in Saami Forests?” now is available on DVD and for download. The DVDs will be distributed to interested Universities in the Arctic Region and/or with a special interest in Arctic Indigenous Issues.

To get a copy for use at your University, contact us at ips@arcticpeoples.org, and specify the format (NTSC for North America, PAL for Europe/Russia). For individual requests for a copy of the DVD we ask you to contact the producer at www.elonmerkki.net.

If you just want to see it online, and maybe download a compressed copy of it for your iPod, continue reading…

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By Patricia Cochran and Taito Nakalevu

Three years ago, when a tsunami washed away the lives and livelihoods of people in South-east Asia, the rest of the world acted with commendable compassion. Tents, blankets and food were sent, reconstruction teams poured in, and people around the world sent millions of dollars to help. Now another devastating wave is threatening the lives and livelihoods of people globally - from the fringes of the Arctic to the Caribbean and the scattered islands of the South Pacific. This wave of global warming also brings devastation in its path, but it is moving so slowly that some people fail to recognize its destructive power. Arctic regions and small islands around the world are being hit hardest.
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by Clive Tesar
An influential audience of Arctic diplomats, Indigenous Leaders, and NGOs was treated to a viewing of the new Saami film “Last Yoik in Saami Forests?”. The film was screened at a meeting of the Arctic Council in Narvik, Norway, in Saami traditional territory. It chronicles clashes between Saami reindeer herders, determined to preserve their traditional economy and culture, and the forestry company that threatens them.

The activities of the Finnish state forestry company in the Inari region of Finland have reached the point where centuries-old Saami reindeer herding activities are at the point of collapse. The logging company operating in the region, supported by the Finnish government, has been cutting down old growth forests that provide critical habitat and forage for reindeer. This is despite an ongoing process to settle Saami land rights in the region.
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RAIPON Vice-President Pavel Sulyandziga">This is anRAIPON Vice-President Pavel Sulyandziga"> edited version of an interview with Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North ( RAIPON ) Vice-President Pavel Sulyandziga. The original interview by Alexandra Beluza first appeared in the Russian Newspaper “Tribuna”.

Pavel Vasilyevich, recently the [Russian Federation] legislaRAIPON Vice-President Pavel Sulyandziga">tors rejectedRAIPON Vice-President Pavel Sulyandziga">RAIPON Vice-President Pavel Sulyandziga" height="432" style="width: 316px; height: 432px" title=" RAIPON Vice-President Pavel Sulyandziga" /> a bill on ethnological appraisal initiated by RAIPON .

Yes, we did propose that the state should include an ethnological study to find out how a particular business project impacts a traditional life style of an aboriginal community. I can give you an example of such influence from the life of my own people. Until the 1970s, eight ethnic groups of the Udege people existed, while today only half of them are left because the Ussury taiga forest was cut down on the territories where four of them used to live, which deprived them of their hunting grounds and in effect removed the economic basis of their livelihoods from their under their feet.

In my opinion, it is here that the gravest danger lies: depriving the indigenous peoples of opportunities to practice their traditional pursuits on which their culture, language, traditions and customs are based. Many negative developments took place in Soviet times, yet then the authorities supported the traditional economies of Indigenous Peoples. Today the government has practically abandoned any policy regarding the small Indigenous Peoples.

The Law on Guarantees of Small Peoples’ Rights has been so badly mutilated over the past few years that there are practically no rights left. The Law on Territories of Traditional Natural Resources Use of the Small Indigenous Nations of the Russian North, Siberia and the Far East has been in effect since 2001, yet not a single such territory has since been created. Read the rest of this entry »