The human face

Large conferences are sanitized. Hundreds of people rush in suits from meeting-to-meeting with their wireless laptops and PDAs, speaking in acronyms.

On Wednesday night a panel of indigenous people sought to de-sanitize the conference halls in Poznan.

Margaret Lokuwa told us of the plight of pastoralist farmers from north-east Uganda who are losing their herds due to persistent droughts: “I really don’t know what will happen in the next 15-20 years. Maybe the pastoralists will become extinct?”

Johnson Cerda, from the Kichua people in Ecuador, spoke of how his people are dependent on Lake Limoncocha for their livelihoods. But the water level of the lake is falling and the water is getting warmer, leading to less fish.

And Jennifer Rubez from the Borneo part of Malaysia said that the rainy season is no longer predictable, floods are more severe and many communities have seen their crops and houses destroyed in recent years. Those who are suffering recurrent flooding are now being forced out of their homes to become “climate refugees”.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. All spoke of ways in which indigenous communities are trying to use their local knowledge to adapt to climate changes, such as alternative crops and rotation patterns. Underlying everything they said was an appeal to justice. Vicky Taull-Corpez from the Philippines concluded that:

“We indigenous people’s have made the greatest contribution to mitigating climate change. We have kept fossil fuels in the ground and we have maintained the forests.”

What have we done in return?