Climate Change And Its Effects On Indigenous Peoples (Essay Sample)

Climate change and effects on indigenous peoples
Climate change is a reality and a threat in today’s world. Natural disasters and extreme phenomena are on the rise presenting an intensity the Earth has never seen. Deforestation, water pollution, increased carbon emissions and global warming are only few of the problems that industrialization has brought with it. The greed of capitalism is a relatively recent phenomenon, which is manifested through the exploitation of people’s labor and the sacrifice of nature and humanity to the logic of profit. Colonialism, which started a few centuries ago, has contributed to the violation of nature as well as indigenous people’s rights to live a normal life. Human curiosity led man to travel, loot, conquer and settle in new lands. Besides human progress, this is interwoven with pain, suffering and sometimes extinction of indigenous peoples. The understanding that globalization must be stopped in order to prevent climate change keeping in mind only community based solutions with respect to tribes, is characterized as climate justice (Climate justice, 2014).
Capitalism and colonialism disrupted the indigenous peoples’ lives in various ways and are still disrupting them today. Dominant countries and people equipped with modern technology and power are actually oppressing the poor, less powerful ones. They are forcing them to constantly move as their lands are cleared to construct buildings and roads, after they have destroyed every aspect of their cultural or economic situation. Their relocation is not only difficult but sometimes ineffective due to their inability to adapt to a new reality. This describes the so-called climate injustice. According to Tsosie, indigenous peoples, who are supposed to be respected as politically independent, are treated primarily as ethnic groups that lack all political power, in a lot of parts of the world (Tsosie, 2010). She proceeds to mention the example of Latin America, where mining and massive deforestation are destroying and removing indigenous communities from their lands (Tsosie, 2010). In addition, while looking for oil and other resources, male contractors have been known to not only take advantage of African women and girls sexually but also treat them violently (Whyte, 2016). However, their tribes have had no actual rights or voice so far. Whyte refers to the vulnerability of indigenous communities, as they remain helpless while they are watching their erasure from the map (Whyte, 2016). A lot of tribes have become extinct already and the rest are aware of the upcoming hazards.
Moreover, Whyte refers to a specific example associated with global warming. As glaciers melt and sea levels rise, the fish habitats are seriously affected in indigenous territories all over the world, such as on the Pacific coast of North America. There, plenty of tribal nations harvest salmon for economic and cultural purposes. As a result, not only do they have to relocate and adapt to a new environment and land for their survival, but they also lose part of their customs and traditional knowledge (Whyte, 2016). Furthermore, droughts reduce the consistency of the soil, resulting to droughts, which destroy the homes and fortunes of these people, while they are legally unprotected (Tsosie, 2010). Consequently, these people experience intense grief, shame, anger and hopelessness as they have lost their ability to fish, hunt and take care of their families (Norgard & Reed R, 2017).
As far as cultural characteristics are concerned, ecosystem disturbance, biodiversity loss, droughts and ice melting are going to disrupt the habits, customs, ceremonies and even home structure of many tribes. For instance, loss of fish stocks in Melanesia is expected to result in the discontinuance of the ceremonies which are associated with specific fish species (Adger et al, 2012). Additionally, in Arctic, decreased snow and ice cover due to the greenhouse effect will possibly make native people switch to hunting or fish different species. As a consequence, all their traditional wisdom and knowledge will be lost. Their characteristic, traditional housing is probably going to belong in the past because of alterations in the landscape (Adger et al, 2012).
The adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the U.N. General Assembly in 2007 was an event of extreme importance for native people. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) seeks to fix this injustice and discrimination towards tribal nations by establishing legal rights for them and acknowledging the respect of dominant countries for the native peoples’ knowledge and culture. UNDRIP recognizes that indigenous peoples have the right to be free from any kind of slavery, exploitation or discrimination. In addition, they have the right to prac...