The Charcoal Project » Indigenous people

Video: A powerful look at the impact of CC on E. Africa’s pastoral communities

Jean Kim Chaix — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 02:35:28 +0000

A simple yet poignant story about what lies ahead for some of the world’s most vulnerable people. At The Charcoal Project we don’t normally go for content that strays too far from our editorial mission. However, we decided that Evan Abramson’s short documentary film on the impact of Climate Change on the nomadic tribes that inhabit the border of Kenya and Ethiopia was just too powerful not to share. The impact of water scarcity on some of Africa’s poorest but proud people is a reminder of the challenges that lie ahead for Africa and those least responsible for Climate Change. … Continue reading →

A balancing act in the Cardamoms

Jean Kim Chaix — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:36:34 +0000

Conservationists sometimes find their efforts in protected areas at odds with indigenous rights.

The Central Cardamom Protected Forest (CCPF) in Cambodia is a 400,000-hectare zone that the government created in 2002.

Conservationists see the Cardamoms as an ecological jewel. It is home to dozens of threatened species, including some that have become extinct elsewhere, as well as a vital watershed that supports hundreds of thousands of people downstream of its rivers.

But the CCPF is also home to more than 3,000 isolated villagers, many of them indigenous Khmer Daeum whose ancestors have lived in the forest for centuries.

In dealing with them, authorities have two choices: Offer a stick, or offer a carrot. Officials can tell the communities to stop using their ancestral forests outright, or work with them to end destructive commercial poaching and logging.

Continue reading →

REDD as a Human Rights Disaster: Fact or fiction?

charcoalproject — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:22:00 +0000

From IPS news came this item in the context of Copenhagen. The thesis is that REDD — Reduced Emissions through avoided Deforestation and Degradation, the proposed mechanism by which developing nations will be compensated for protecting and restoring their forests under a global greenhouse gas reduction agreement — would encourage countries to cordon off their forests, and therefore restrict access to the indigenous and rural inhabitants that depend on the forests for their survival and their identity. How real is this scenario? We thought it worthwhile to examine the piece in detail and see how much water this theory holds. … Continue reading →