Posts tagged "nature"
28
November 11

The world’s original scientists’ observations of climate change

Most tribal peoples have developed an intimate knowledge of their surroundings, and observe minute changes in their ecosystems. As the UN’s climate change conference begins in Durban, Survival calls for the ecological knowledge and insights of tribal peoples to be heeded in global decisions concerning climate change.

Tribal peoples’ observations include:

  • Inuit hunters of northwest Canada report thinning sea ice, shorter winters and hotter summers, change to the permafrost and rising sea levels.
  • Innu people of northeast Canada report observing birds in Northern Labrador such as blue jays that are typically only found in southern Canada or the U.S., less snow during the coldest months of the year and fewer mosquitoes during the summer.
  • Nenet reindeer herders of Siberia report that frozen rivers are melting earlier in the season, which hinders their reindeer’s spring migration, forcing them to swim instead of walk across the ice. They also report fewer mosquitoes.
  • Tsaatan reindeer herders of Mongolia report that the growth of lichen and moss that nourish their reindeer is being adversely impacted.
  • Yanomami of the Brazilian Amazon report a change in the pattern of rainfall in the rainforest. They urge the world to recognize the vital role of the Amazon in the regulation of the world’s climate, and the contribution of deforestation to global warming.

Read the entire article here.

    24
    November 11
    ‘Our ancestral land contains forests, rattan, birds, monkeys and other wildlife. We defend them because they are our food. That is why the earth is sacred to us. The mountains are our cathedrals. The earth is filled with life: bees, wild pigs, birds, monkeys, trees, fish and wild chickens. This gives abundance to our lives. The earth is our parent: it is our father and mother who helps us grow and wakes us from our sleep. The earth is dear to our bodies.’
    - Datu Mampadayag
    10
    November 11
    Yanomami pound leaves for Tembó, Demini, Brazil. Today, the World Bank published a study that confirmed indigenous peoples are key to preserving the world’s forests. Read about it here.

    Yanomami pound leaves for Tembó, Demini, Brazil.

    Today, the World Bank published a study that confirmed indigenous peoples are key to preserving the world’s forests. Read about it here.

    7
    November 11
    A Hadza boy eats honeycomb. Hadza hunters in Tanzania use the song of an African bird to guide them to bees’ nests in baobab trees. This month, the Hadza tribe celebrates its first land titles.

    A Hadza boy eats honeycomb.

    Hadza hunters in Tanzania use the song of an African bird to guide them to bees’ nests in baobab trees. This month, the Hadza tribe celebrates its first land titles.

    1
    November 11
    ‘I am the environment.
    I was born in the forest,
    and I grew up there. I know it well.
    Without land and nature, we can’t live, the world can’t work.
    You talk of the planet, yet you don’t
    think it has a heart and breathes,
    but it does.
    You talk politics and study on paper.
    But we study in the forest and look
    carefully. You don’t know our wisdom.
    It’s very different.
    We understand that all living things have a noreshi - another living being which is born at the exact same time
    as yourself.
    Your noreshi may be a bird, or a boar, or a deer, or a fish, or an anteater, a
    butterfly or any other kind of living plant or animal.
    It rests when you rest, it feeds
    when you feed, it sings when you sing.
    It dies when you die.’
    - Davi Kopenawa, Yanomami, Brazil
    26
    October 11
    Dongria Kondh boy Kalia stands in front of the Niyamgiri hill range.

    Dongria Kondh boy Kalia stands in front of the Niyamgiri hill range.

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    September 11
    A Moken child launches himself from a jetty into the blue-green waters of the Andaman Sea. The Moken ‘sea gypsies’ are a semi-nomadic people who live in the Mergui Archipelago. It is thought that Moken children learn to swim before they can walk; a recent study also found that the eyesight of Moken children is 50% more powerful than that of European children, possibly due to generations of underwater fishing.

    A Moken child launches himself from a jetty into the blue-green waters of the Andaman Sea. The Moken ‘sea gypsies’ are a semi-nomadic people who live in the Mergui Archipelago.

    It is thought that Moken children learn to swim before they can walk; a recent study also found that the eyesight of Moken children is 50% more powerful than that of European children, possibly due to generations of underwater fishing.