Indigenous Engagement with Renewable Energy Projects

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There are currently 197 renewable energy projects associated with Indigenous communities in Canada; however, very few are controlled by Indigenous communities. Renewable energy, or clean energy, is energy that is naturally derived and processed from resources like water, wind, and sunlight. This energy is “replenished at a rate that is equal to or faster than the rate” at which the resources are consumed. Indigenous engagement in renewable energy projects is motivated by several factors, including economic development, self-determination, and climate change adaptation.

Renewable energy is recognized as an economic opportunity by, and for, Indigenous Peoples. The Cowessess Renewable Energy Storage Facility is one example of a First Nation-owned renewable energy project that contributes to the economic sustainability of the nation. The facility harnesses energy from both solar power and wind power, and as such, is referred to as a hybrid facility. This project was developed by Cowessess First Nation in 2013, and in partnership with the Saskatchewan Research Council; it provides enough power for 340 homes. SaskPower, the power authority in Saskatchewan, is contracted to buy electricity from the project for 20 years, with profits going to Cowessess First Nation. In addition, the project supports Indigenous businesses and trains and hires members of the First Nation to sustain the project.

In another example, the Pic Mobert First Nation (population 350) owns 50% of the Gitchi Animki Hydroelectric Project located in White River, Ontario. The Pic Mobert First Nation also operates the two generating stations of 18.9-megawatts that were constructed with band members, in partnership with Regional Power Incorporated. The project generates revenue that benefits the community and has been supplying energy to the province of Ontario’s power grid since 2016.

A primary motivator for Indigenous-owned-and-operated renewable energy projects is energy autonomy, a form of self-determination. Also referred to as energy self-sufficiency, energy autonomy, reflects a community’s ability to generate, store, distribute, and sustain an energy system locally, without the need of external intervention. In turn, some Indigenous communities are “participating in renewable energy development as a way to assert their collective rights to land and self determination.” The 20/20 Catalysts Program is one way that Indigenous communities are supported to learn and build knowledge and skills in developing community-based renewable energy projects.

Indigenous-led renewable energy projects and associated infrastructure projects, like energy-efficient housing, can contribute to climate change adaptation efforts. A recent report by the Indigenous Clean Energy (ICE) Network calls for energy efficiency as a catalyst for a future that embraces clean energy as foundational to Indigenous health. Financing the construction of energy efficient homes and the retrofitting of older homes to be energy efficient is proposed by ICE as a crucial component to both climate adaptation and sustainable development, by reducing energy emissions, and by facilitating job creation for Indigenous people.

Fostering reconciliation through renewable energy projects demands free, prior, and informed consent and financing to ensure that more Indigenous communities control their own projects, both during and after the development phase.

 

By Leela Viswanathan

 

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Indigenous Land and Carbon Rights are Vital to Mitigating Climate Change

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The protection of Indigenous land rights helps to secure the carbon stored by forests and soil on Indigenous traditional territories and treaty lands. Carbon capturing and storage or ‘carbon sequestration’ in the air, lands, and trees, reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) world-wide and are crucial to mitigating climate change.

Tree cover loss continues to be a threat to climate change. “Indigenous peoples and local communities manage[d] at least 17 percent, or 293,061 million metric tons (Mt) of the total carbon stored”, in about 69% of the world’s forest cover, in 2017. If carbon held underground in forests and lands is released into the atmosphere, it would add to global CO2 emissions, the majority of which comes from road transport.

Forest protection and securing Indigenous land title are linked. Titling Indigenous community lands “significantly reduces both clearing and disturbance” in the short term. For example, in the Peruvian Amazon, deforestation was reduced by 81% in the year that followed titling. Drawing from the interactive maps available online by LandMark Global Platform of Indigenous and Community Lands, current users can see total tree cover loss from 2001-2019 on Indigenous and community lands.

Indigenous rights to land and recognition by governments of these rights may not only secure Indigenous rights to carbon but may also facilitate Indigenous access to carbon markets and reforms to regulatory processes. These interventions could more powerfully manage CO2 emissions and mitigate the global effects of climate change.

 

By Leela Viswanathan

 

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Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas Help Fight Climate Change Through Indigenous Stewardship

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Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCA) are crucial to fighting climate change and to mitigating losses in global biodiversity. Drawing from geospatial data, potential areas for IPCA designation cover approximately, “38 million km2 in 87 countries” around the world. Although IPCAs are varied, they share common characteristics, including enhancing Indigenous rights and responsibilities and a commitment to Indigenous stewardship.

As noted in the 2018 report We Rise by the Indigenous Circle of Experts: “IPCAs are lands and waters where Indigenous governments have the primary role in protecting and conserving ecosystems through Indigenous laws, governance and knowledge systems. Culture and language are the heart and soul of an IPCA.”

In 2017, Mary Simon, Canada’s Special Representative of Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada indicated in the report A New Shared Leadership Model that there is strong link between Arctic conservation and healthy community building, with a crucial role for Inuit environmental stewardship programs to uphold “an Indigenous vision of a working landscape.” The notion of a “working landscape” shows how IPCAs can also be recognized as having a crucial role in sustaining Indigenous local economies. The Arqvilliit Indigenous Protected Area, which includes the Inuit community of Inukjuak on Hudson Bay, relies on Indigenous-led monitoring and conservation efforts to address climate change impacts such as melting sea ice, the decline of polar bear and seal populations, and reduced access to country food.

More recently, the Kaska Nation has proposed the Dene K’éh Kusān, otherwise known as the Kaska Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (KIPCA) which would further support Kaska Dena stewardship practices based on “honouring cultural responsibility to care for the land.” Dene K’éh Kusān means “Always Will Be There” in Dene language. Indigenous stewardship draws from Traditional Indigenous Knowledge in environmental conservation. The Dane Nan Yḗ Dāh Network, which is the Kaska Land Guardian network, plays a key role in sustaining Indigenous stewardship and co-management practices from one generation to the next, and is rooted in Kaska cultural and value systems.

In another example, the Australian Government has given Indigenous Protected Areas (IPA) a “specific designation” within the country’s legal framework for conservation management, where cultural values are recognized as integral to long -term conservation planning practices. IPAs are also recognized as Indigenous country,  whereby “country” refers to “land and waters that have enduring cultural, social, and economic linkages for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (TSI) peoples.” Indigenous governance by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is also a crucial component to Australian Indigenous Protected Areas. Enhancing and supporting the network of Indigenous Rangers through ‘Country Needs People’ is also vital to sustaining cultural and ecological Indigenous-led conservation practices in Australia. Aboriginal title, as proof of land “ownership,” is a crucial requirement for inclusion in Australia’s Indigenous Protected Area system.

Despite these encouraging developments, there is so much yet to learn about Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas from the standpoint of Indigenous knowledge keepers around the world.

 

By Leela Viswanathan

 

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Creating Synergies Between Indigenous Traditional and Modern Weather Forecasting to Facilitate Climate Adaptation

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Indigenous weather and climate forecasting indicators offer important information to facilitate adaptation to climate and weather variability. Dynamic processes involved with linking modern meteorological climate and weather forecasting with traditional Indigenous approaches, point to opportunities for the co-production of knowledge.

Among farmers and pastoralists in Eastern Africa, Indigenous weather forecasting indicators are varied and can incorporate meteorological and astrological components. Forecasting seasonal climate change at the local level is crucial for farmers and pastoralists, and Indigenous “traditional weather and climate forecasting remains the most accessible and affordable source of weather and climate information.” For example, the Afar pastoralists from the Horn of Africa predict climate and weather changes by observing behaviours and indicators from trees, insects, animals, birds, and livestock and triangulate this traditional information with scientific information from modern sources. Afar pastoralists use a system of three different traditional approaches to “collect, share and analyse” climate and weather information gathered from both scientific and traditional sources. The system consists of information gathered from traditional scouts on rangelands (the Edo); a traditional network for secure and reliable information sharing and exchange (the Dagu); and the traditional Afar governance system (the Adda) to facilitate information analysis prior to community decision making.

Creating synergies between Local Indigenous Knowledge on weather forecasting and modern scientific meteorological methods can meet the short-term and long-term climate information needs of local Indigenous farmers to support their decision making to adapt to climate change.

 

By Leela Viswanathan

 

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Indigenous Peoples Are Crucial to Protecting Global Biodiversity but Are Excluded From Decision Making

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Indigenous people show how to nurture, defend, and protect biodiversity while living off the land. Their efforts are crucial to the Convention on Biological Diversity signed by 150 countries in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 to implement the principles of Agenda 21 (the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and the Statement principles for the Sustainable Management of Forests) and the current push to protect 30% of the Earth’s land and water by 2030. However, a coalition of Indigenous groups are calling for an increase of the target to 50%, and they have not been invited to participate in the United Nations’ (UN) Biodiversity Conference scheduled for Kunming, China in October 2021. What is global biodiversity and how are Indigenous peoples crucial to protecting Earth’s habitat?

Biodiversity has been described as the “library of life”; it reflects ecosystem diversity, species diversity, genetic diversity. Many ecosystems are vulnerable and require protection from overuse, and imbalances between “sharing and protecting activities”. Increasing the interconnection among these elements strengthens the resiliency of biodiversity in the world.

Current news stories are highlighting the contributions of Indigenous peoples in “leading the way” in nature conservation; this includes protecting the web of humans, animals, insects and plants on Earth, in the context of global warming, overharvesting of forests, overconsumption of land for food, and overfishing. As regions of high biodiversity, some UN Biosphere Reserves offer good examples of protected territories, where scientists have engaged in partnerships with Indigenous communities in land management and biodiversity conservation; one example is the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala. In Canada, biosphere reserves continue to work on how to build meaningful relationships with Indigenous peoples as partners in biodiversity protection and to practice truth and reconciliation.

Research studies have shown “that overall, Indigenous-managed lands and existing protected areas host similar levels of vertebrate biodiversity in Brazil, Canada, and Australia.” There is a strong relationship between building partnerships with Indigenous communities to enhance their land tenure and protecting land for “biodiversity conservation using a mix of conventional protected areas and Indigenous-managed lands.”

Protecting biodiversity goes together with sustainable development and meeting UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be impossible without Indigenous ecological understanding. Indigenous peoples make up “less than 5% of the population but manage more than one-quarter of the world’s land surface.”  As noted by UNESCO, Indigenous people need to be extricated from the singular category of land manager or resource user and from associated perceptions of what those roles entail, and instead, be recognized as essential partners in protecting biodiversity.

We, as humans, are running out of time to combat the destructive impacts of climate change. It is unconscionable that Indigenous people are being excluded from crucial UN talks about biodiversity. It makes no sense that while the contributions of Indigenous people to the protection of global biodiversity are recognized internationally, that Indigenous groups would be excluded from global policy discussions meant to protect planet Earth.

By Leela Viswanathan

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Big Data Climate Research Needs Indigenous Expertise for Meaningful Social Impact

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Big Data involves gathering and compiling massive amounts of information from multiple data sources, rapidly, with the help of technology. Indigenous expertise needs to be included in Big Data research projects from the start, rather than being ignored or included as an afterthought, to more comprehensively understand Arctic change and to have social impact on Indigenous communities.

The Arctic Animal Movement Archive (AAMA) hosted by Movebank combines information from 30 years of ecological research, and from over 200 studies, that tracked the movements of 86 species from around the world using animal-borne sensors. The Big Data gives “a bigger picture of how animals are responding to changes in the Arctic.” For example, ice loss, an earlier arrival of the spring season, and longer autumns influence where caribou and the Pacific Walrus give birth to their calves, and affect Indigenous hunting practices. Currently, a web search for information about the inclusion of Indigenous people in AAMA research processes garners no results. To have meaningful social impact, Big Data projects need Indigenous communities to inform research processes from the start.

Big data projects may learn from attempts at co-management that aim to redress the historical exclusion of Indigenous people from research processes. For example, two St. Lawrence Island Yupik communities, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Eskimo Walrus Commission link oceanographic data with Indigenous hunters’ and fishers’ knowledge to protect walrus populations and sustain access to country food.

By Leela Viswanathan

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International Participation and Leadership of Indigenous Women in Climate Change Action

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Indigenous women are at the forefront of many local climate change adaptation efforts, however, gender inequality in climate change planning and decision making persists at the international level. Gender inequality can be measured by tracking “relative gaps between men and women on health, education, economy, and politics,” as documented in the Global Gender Gap Report 2020. However, adapting to climate change requires systems change; this includes transforming international climate governance bodies to ensure gender equality and Indigenous women’s engagement in all activities to protect Mother Earth.

Participatory processes that inform the development of gender inclusive approaches to climate change adaptation at an international scale include Climate Change Gender Action Plans (ccGAPs) and involves The International Union for Conservation of Nature is an international organization (IUCN) and more than 24 participating countries. The ccGAPs aim to “build on a country’s national development and climate change policy or strategy and identify gender-specific issues in each priority sector.” The ccGAPs have been linked to REDD+ plans or ‘roadmaps.’ REDD+ stands for “reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and forest conservation, sustainable management and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.” At a global scale REDD+ roadmaps have played an important role in enabling countries to track the impact of climate change on forests; however, the lack of information, disaggregated by sex, negatively affects the depth of gender analyses to inform REDD+ policies. Advocacy to increase Indigenous women’s participation in REDD+ is ongoing, as are efforts to put the spotlight on Indigenous women in climate change adaptation efforts internationally.

At the World Economic Forum Davos meeting in 2020, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, President of the Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad voiced how climate change is destroying lives and highlighted the impact of climate change on Indigenous people. She noted that “[w]hen they say the forest is burning it’s not just the language of expression. It’s our real home that’s burning…Because indigenous people from all over the world – from Chad, Amazon, Indonesia – we’re depending on these forests. They’re our food, our medicine, our pharmacy, our education.” As Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim explains, climate change is threatening the survival of pastoral people of the Sahel and Lake Chad region, displacing Indigenous communities, and consequently, increasing the role of Indigenous women in developing innovative solutions to food insecurity and water conservation, and in better exchanging traditional knowledge.

Opportunities for Indigenous women to be engaged internationally in climate change decision making have been limited, relative to their male counterparts. When Indigenous women have opportunities and choices to participate in different processes of climate change information sharing and decision making at the international scale, they can draw from, and build upon, the numerous climate adaptation efforts of their Indigenous sisters who continue to have an impact on local communities and regions. Their efforts include protecting land rights, leading projects as waterkeepers, and forging new paths for future generations to plan for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

By Leela Viswanathan

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Revitalizing Indigenous Oral Traditions to Enhance Climate Adaptation

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Revitalizing all aspects of Indigenous oral cultures, including Indigenous languages, is necessary to enhance climate adaptation and to mitigate the loss of centuries of traditional Indigenous knowledge. Indigenous oral traditions are reflected in practices that transmit, receive, and protect Indigenous ideas, ways of knowing, art, and cultural materials, like songs and creation stories, from one generation to the next. Indigenous languages, as crucial contributors to Indigenous oral traditions, are constantly at risk of disappearing, due to ongoing colonization and climate-forced migration.

For example, South Pacific Islander oral traditions can “describe events that occurred as much as 400-700 years ago, less than one-third of the time that most western Pacific island groups have been occupied.” In turn, the Vanuatu government’s support for Indigenous language education in elementary schools could be viewed as an approach to both Indigenous language revitalization and climate change adaptation. Furthermore, to defend against language loss and to acknowledge modern environmental phenomena, Greenland’s government is legislating new words, such as ‘climate change’ (i.e., silap pissusiata allanngornera) among others, through Oqaasileriffik, their Language Secretariat, and is replacing dominant Danish place names for those in Greenlandic.

More than half of the 7,000 languages spoken in the world today will be lost within this century due to the ongoing effects of both colonization and climate change. Revitalizing Indigenous oral traditions and integrating Indigenous languages into local climate adaptation strategies are necessary to ensure the cultural and climate resilience of Indigenous peoples worldwide.

By Leela Viswanathan

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Climate-forced Indigenous Migration: Humanizing the Impact of Climate Change

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Threatened by the effects of climate change, such as coastal erosion and rising sea levels, Indigenous people are being forced to relocate their communities and risk loss of their culture. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that by 2050, there will be 20 million people displaced due to climate change.

Migration is often presented as a last resort climate change adaptation strategy for Indigenous peoples, and while the loss of culture, due to forced relocation, is evidenced, it is also difficult to quantify in ways that policymakers can appreciate. For example, when the US government was unable to protect several Alaskan Native American communities to remain in place and to adapt to thawing permafrost and reduced marine life, these communities were forced to relocate. In turn, the Climate Justice Resilience Fund and their international allies attempted to shed light upon losses to culture brought by forced migration, and advocated to the signatories of the Paris Agreement to develop rules to prevent such losses. 

Rising sea levels caused by global warming are threatening to displace more Indigenous people living on island nations, such as Tuvalu, located in the South Pacific Ocean, just 4 or 5 meters above sea level.  Similarly, the Lennox Island Mi’Kmaq First Nation located in Prince Edward Island, Canada, is adapting to rising sea levels and potential land loss. Their efforts are being supported by research with the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of Prince Edward Island and data drawn from the University of PEI’s CLIVE tool to track the loss of land fallen into the sea and to adapt to the rapid rate of soil erosion. As another source of information on climate change planning, the PEI Climate Change Action Plan 2018-2023 helps communities to assess how to plan for the erosion of coastal lands; however, it does not address climate change-related Indigenous migration due to land loss and related cultural impacts.

Canada’s federal government does not have a plan in place to address climate-forced displacement of Indigenous peoples. Considering the lack of state-based government policy on displacement, even with financial investment in climate change adaptation, there is a need for world-wide coordination with Indigenous communities to learn how these communities envision their own futures under climate change threats. In Australia, researchers have reported on the diverse dimensions of climate change-induced migration, noting that any attempts at a one-size fits all adaptation policy for Indigenous communities should be replaced by efforts to develop “place-based adaptive strategies” with Indigenous communities.

Grassroots coalitions across not-for-profit, religious organizations, human rights organizations, and Indigenous communities have convened discussions to put forward Indigenous-led solutions to climate change adaptation. They also consider how to mitigate the violation of human rights related to climate-forced migration. In turn, it is vital to learn from the experiences of Indigenous peoples to humanize the impact of climate change effects and to consider how communities are simultaneously addressing the environmental impacts of climate change and the pressures of climate-forced relocation.  

By Leela Viswanathan

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Climate Science 2050: Mobilizing Indigenous-led Research and Knowledge on Climate Change

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Climate Science 2050 (CS2050), a report released in 2020 by Environment and Climate Change Canada provides diverse perspectives on climate science, including Indigenous perspectives, and offers future directions for climate change research in Canada. The report recognizes the impact of “western scientific research practices and colonial policies” on the marginalization of Indigenous perspectives in climate change research and encourages researchers to rectify this historical practice. Guiding principles for CS2050 include Indigenous self-determination and recognition that Indigenous knowledge must ‘coexist’ alongside western science rather than to be subsumed by it. In addition, “collaboration across generations, disciplines, sectors, orders of government, organizations and regions” is highlighted. Examples from Indigenous-led climate change projects are offered throughout the report. At times, the report comes across as geared to a primarily non-Indigenous western audience intending to, or already working with, Indigenous communities. This is especially evident in statements about “supporting capacity building” within Indigenous communities rather than warning against engaging in extractive forms of scientific research. There is a missed opportunity to critique capacity-building approaches often imposed upon Indigenous communities, and to answer the question: capacity for whom, by whom? The report succeeds when it spotlights the climate change priorities of First Nation, Métis and Inuit communities, and the benefits of co-developing research with Indigenous research partners. Readers are encouraged to direct their attention toward supporting, if not funding, Indigenous-led knowledge creation and climate science that contributes to promoting the resilience of future generations.

By Leela Viswanathan

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