KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16, 2015 - In the countdown to UN climate negotiations
taking place next week for the international climate summit (COP 21) in Paris,
Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia
(JOAS) issued a reminder to the delegation representing
Malaysia to take heed of the urgent call of indigenous peoples that our rights
along with comprehensive efforts to limit global temperature rise are not up
for negotiation.
Indigenous villagers in Kampung Buayan, located deep in
the Crocker Range in Sabah, working together to build a micro-hydro. Indigenous
peoples in Malaysia have been advancing local climate resilience, piloting pico
and micro-hydro projects across the country to bring electricity to remote
areas while successfully protecting watershed areas (photo credit: Jaringan
Orang Asal SeMalaysia).
“Indigenous peoples contribute the least to climate
change, but are the first to bare the brunt of it,” explained Jannie
Lasimbang, Secretariat Director of JOAS.
“Unpredictable weather patterns have severely impacted
our food security, as many of our communities live off the land.
In Kelantan, where vast tracts of forested customary land
have been clear-cut to make way for monocrop plantations, many Orang Asli homes
were swept away when there was unprecedented flooding earlier this year caused by
the heavy rainfall.
Meanwhile,
villages in the interior found themselves isolated and facing severe food
shortages for months after when landslides cut off road access points.
“However, we do not want to be simply written into the
Paris agreement text as a ‘vulnerable population’,” Lasimbang asserted.
“We do not want to be pitied or given one-off handouts.
Our message to our ministers is for them to respect us in our own right; to
commit to seeking indigenous peoples’ participation, consultation and consent in
the design and implementation of measures related to climate change," she
said.
Elaborated Joan Carling, the Secretary General of the
Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), “Indigenous peoples’ have been protecting
and nurturing their lands and resources for centuries for the future
generation.
Their sustainable practices and systems of resource
management are needed to combat climate change.
It is thereby critical that the agreement and decisions
of COP 21 shall ensure the recognition of these systems along with the respect
of the rights of indigenous peoples over their lands and
resources.”
Lasimbang added:"By submitting our position to
Malaysia’s negotiating team, we are putting them on notice, that they are being
held to account.
"We want to see them take a stand to commit to
identified targets that will keep the temperature increase below 1.5° Celsius,
phase out dirty energy projects, including large-scale dams, coal fired plants and
nuclear plants and develop redress mechanisms to compensate for the loss and damages
already inflicted on communities," she said.
Lasimbang continued: “We call on our representatives to
take the cue from indigenous peoples’ communities to uphold collective
principles, values and practices.
"It is also time for them to acknowledge and support
our communities’ efforts to advance local climate resilience, for example,
piloting pico and micro-hydro projects.
"In sum, we hope those at the negotiating table next
week have the political will to genuinely protect the earth’s finite resources
for the future of the generations to come," she added.
As the international negotiations get underway on Oct 19
in Bonn, JOAS will join the efforts of the regional body of indigenous peoples,
the Asia Indigenous Peoples’ Pact, to monitor the negotiations in the hopes of
an outcome with a strong, legally binding text, committing all state parties to
immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to prevent
irreversible and catastrophic climate change.
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