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Pathways from Science to Action: Indigenous Leaders Responding to Climate Change

 
 

Pathways from Science to Action: Indigenous Leaders Responding to Climate Change

Indigenous Rights Radio Newsletter. November 2017.
"Indigenous people have drawn on Indigenous knowledge and science for millennia to understand and respond to climate and environmental change they faced. What is different and challenging today is the rate of climate change occurring made by man and our ability to respond to it. We must correct the path we are walking on and return to the special relationships, the teachings, the knowledge and practice that maintains respect, honor and relationship with the natural world,"
 
                 -  Suzanne Benally (Navajo/Santa Clara Tewa)

            Executive Director of Cultural Survival
       
Our latest program series explores the changing relationships between Indigenous communities and their lands and surrounding environments in the face of rapidly accelerating climate change. Indigenous people are leading efforts to adapt to new environments created by industrialization, and drawing upon generations of knowledge and science to enact solutions for survival.  Listen to 6 new interviews below with Indigenous leaders responding to climate change in the context of their communities . Also, don't miss the bonus program commemorating International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25th.
In Mbororo communities in Chad, Indigenous women are the most affected by climate change because they are the ones collecting food, water, and traditional medicines for their families. Changes to their environment have cause increased hardship on the Mbororo who are pastoralist cattle headers, as they are forced to move more frequently to cope with increasing drought conditions.
Three Indigenous women leaders give their perspectives on the interconnection between all living things and our planet in the face of climate change, and what they feel should be done with that knowledge.
A historic relationship with local environments and ecosystems is more critical than ever for resiliency in the face of a rapidly changing climate.  We hear about traditional burning techniques used to prevent fires in Northern California, and how a Saami community is dealing reduced ice cover in the Arctic.
Though collaboration is crucial to finding solutions for climate change, Indigenous People must be able to maintain, protect, and control their cultural heritage, sciences, and technologies. Roberto Borrero (Taino) tells us why.
The traditions of sustainability that Indigenous women keep alive are being recognized all the way up to the United Nations, and Indigenous women are at the forefront in the confrontation of the causes of climate change.
What can Western science learn from Indigenous knowledge? We speak with Dr. Daniel Wildcat (Yuchi) and Tui Shortland (Maori) about the value of longitudinal place-based knowledge that Indigenous People have gathered over millennia. We unpack what positive collaboration between Western science and Indigenous science can look like and why it is important.
Plus: November 25th is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Share this program with your audience to start a conversation about gender equality and solidarity with Indigenous women worldwide!
Indigenous women face disproportionate rates of violence and discrimination due to their intersecting identities (woman and Indigenous) which have both been historically marginalized in society. Nepali activists explain their work to end violence against women in their country, and lay out next steps for continuing the work of women's liberation around the world.
 
Through Cultural Survival's Indigenous Rights Radio program, our Indigenous radio producers bring you the latest information on Indigenous Peoples' rights and how they are being implemented around the world.

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