Abstract:

On Indigenous People’s Day at COP23, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa joined representatives of indigenous peoples assembled in Bonn, acknowledging their part in being a solution to the problem of climate change. Andrew Bin Ambrose of the Momogun-Dayak in Malaysia stressed indigenous peoples were custodians of the planet. Hindou Oumaro Ibrahim of the Mbororo in Chad explained how her community could read the behavior of certain birds to predict rainfall patterns. And Jannie Staffansson of the Sami people said that the Paris Climate Change Agreement had brought acknowledgements for the rights of indigenous peoples, as well as acknowledgement of the need to strengthen their traditional knowledge in order to help the world in adapting to climate change.