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Closing Statement Of International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity at COP10

Date: 11/10/2010

Mr. President, Honourable Ministers, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Distinguished delegates, Indigenous brothers and sisters; Today I’m speaking on behalf of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB).

After two weeks of continuous work, long discussions and many negotiations we reach the end of COP10. The IIFB representatives, including Indigenous women, have actively engaged in all these discussions with our proposals and deliberations.

Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources Recognizes Indigenous Rights

Date: 11/05/2010

Negotiations on an international regime on Access and Benefit Sharing  for the use of genetic resources resulted in a new protocol at the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, from 18 to 29 October 2010, where over 200 Indigenous representatives participated. The protocol was adopted in Japan on October 29th, and is now known as the Nagoya Protocol.  A protocol is a treaty developed within a treaty, in this case within the CBD.

More Than Paper: Protecting Ainu Culture and Influencing Japanese Dam Development

The violation of indigenous rights in the process of national development, particularly in dam construction projects, is a familiar story. But in the 1980s when the Japanese government decided to expropriate land from the Ainu people and build the Nibutani Dam on the Saru River without considering the impact on Ainu culture, the story had a somewhat different ending than indigenous peoples have come to expect. The process resulted in a court decision heralded as a watershed for the recognition of indigenous claims.

Ainu Shamanism:A Forbidden Path to Universal Knowledge

The Ainu are the largest indigenous population of Japan. They descended from the first peoples on the Japanese archipelago, commonly referred to as the Jômon, who migrated there more than 10,000 years ago. Some Ainu populations developed large-scale sedentary communities in the northern part of the archipelago that thrived until the migrations and influence from the Asian mainland began to dominate about 1,200 years ago. In Ainu shamanism, classical shaman-type and latter-day mediums once coexisted.

Japan's Ainu seek help to preserve their native culture

With burning wood scenting the spring air, the elder chanted softly:

God of trees, god of the earth, god of river, god of water, god of wind, god of clouds, god of the heavens, gods residing in the mountains of this area, god of seas, god of the bear: To all these gods, please descend on this land. Please make our wishes true.

The Ainu Oral History Project, Japan/United States

On December 16th and 17th, 2000, I was invited by the Ainu People of the Kansai and Tokyo area to participate with them in a ceremony that had not been performed in over 25 years. This occasion was precipitated by a proposal submitted to them by Cultural Survival, entitled "The Ainu Oral History Project." Mrs. Ukagi and her brother Mr. Haruzo Urakawa, both traditional elders and leaders of the Ainu people in Japan, organized the ceremony.

Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People

The Ainu are the original indigenous people of Japan, once inhabiting much of northern Japan and now confined primarily to the island of Hokkaido. Many parallels can be drawn between the history and subsequent treatment of the Ainu and that of Native Americans. A lack of scholarly and non-scholarly text dealing with the Ainu only furthers the existing misunderstanding about the Ainu, both in Japan and in Western countries. Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People is the first comprehensive volume on the Ainu.

The Ainu Oral History Project

In upcoming months, Cultural Survival will add the Ainu Oral History Project to its Special Projects Program, with Native American leader Tom Dostou serving in the role of Project Coordinator. Dostou has been in close contact with the Ainu for several years, and he is someone the Ainu trust and value as a fellow indigenous person.

The Ainu: Beyond the Politics of Cultural Coexistence

In 1899 the Japanese parliament enacted the Hokkaido Former Aborigines Protection Act, a law designed to achieve the assimilation of the Ainu population of northern Japan. The paradoxes of this piece of legislation are evident even from its title. The phrase "former Aborigines" was supposed to emphasize the fact that the Ainu were now citizens of a rapidly modernizing Japan, destined to merge their identity with that of the majority population.

briefly noted - 16.4

China's "New Dominion"

Despite a growing movement for independence, the plight of the Uighurs of western China has received little attention. One of many ethnic groups struggling for autonomy under Chinese rule. the Uighurs, live in poverty, while China exploits their resource-rich land.

The region is officially called the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Province, but that name is misleading. In Chinese, Zinjiang means "new dominion," yet China first conquered the area in the Third Century, BC.

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