Preserving Indigenous Rights While Protecting The Planet

At the EWC International Media Conference in Manila, renowned oceanographer Sylvia Earle and several Indigenous leaders urge new perspectives on climate and the environment

MANILA (June 29, 2024) — In a world grappling with escalating climate crises, the way forward can include both modern scientific knowledge and traditional wisdom, according to several expert speakers who took the stage this week at the 2024 East-West Center International Media Conference during several sessions devoted to “New Climate Perspectives.” The presenters, including world-renowned oceanographer and explorer Sylvia Earle, urged the audience of more than 400 journalists and media professionals from 30 countries to explore holistic solutions that include affected communities and to hold everyone to account, even those pursuing alternative energies to fossil fuels.

In a video message, Nainoa Thompson, leader of the Hawai‘i-based Polynesian Voyaging Society, told the group that it is vital to integrate actionable science and data with “not just Indigenous knowledge, but the practices, the views, and the values that Indigenous people have learned over thousands of years of taking care of one’s place,” he said. “It’s the definition of stewardship.”

Joeli Veitayaki, a strategic adviser at Blue Prosperity Fiji, noted that Indigenous peoples of the Pacific have long practiced sustainable methods of living that conserve natural resources. Today, community-led initiatives remain strong in Fiji, where the country’s “largest marine assessment undertaken in over the last hundred years” was just completed, Veitayaki said, and momentum is building around reclaiming beaches and replanting mangroves, among other projects. “We are using a combination of Indigenous and traditional knowledge and science-based methods to adapt to the existential threat that is affecting all aspects of our lives,” he said.

The Ocean’s vital role
Such efforts are crucial, since only three percent of the world’s oceans are considered fully protected from exploitation, said Earle, the founder of Mission Blue, an organization that is working to build a worldwide network of protected marine areas called “Hope Spots.” She detailed how the ocean plays a crucial role in maintaining the earth’s climate through what is called "blue carbon,” a term coined to convey the fact that more than half of all biological carbon kept out of Earth’s atmosphere is captured by living organisms in the sea.

Pollution, habitat destruction, overfishing, deep sea mining, and other harmful practices are degrading natural ecosystems in the water and, in turn, on land, she told the journalists. “Are we going to protect what remains of the natural fabric of life that keeps earth habitable? Or are we going to sacrifice it to developments like deep sea mining that are questionable in terms of whether we really need to do this for future prosperity?” she asked.

Earle pointed out that “humans have become the greatest predators of nature that there has ever been. What we're putting into the ocean, as well as what we're taking out of it, is having a magnified impact on those cycles of life.” Still, she remained optimistic that new technologies will lead to creative solutions to protect the planet. “This is our time, and as we have pointed out, the future is really with the next generation,” she said.

Green energy isn’t always ‘clean’
One facet of climate reporting that is often overlooked, according to Joan Carling, the executive director of Indigenous Peoples Rights International based in Baguio, Philippines, is the fact that a global push to shift to renewable energy has the potential to do more harm than good, particularly in areas where Indigenous peoples’ land is exploited. “Journalists can also play a crucial role by conducting more in-depth investigative reporting on the abuses and injustices faced by Indigenous peoples in the name of climate action,” Carling said. “This includes uncovering land grabs, forced evictions, environmental degradation, and human rights violations perpetrated by corporations and state authorities.”

Certain renewable energy projects may require the mining of metals and rare-earth minerals, which poses huge ecological challenges as well as a human cost, she said, criticizing hydropower and liquid natural gas projects in particular for displacing people from their homes and degrading land in Indigenous territories. These kinds of projects are often approved without the local population’s informed consent, she noted.

More funding needs to be directed to proven community-based renewable energy projects that involve Indigenous communities so they may have a greater sense of ownership, Carling said: “What we need to do is look for other options … and there are other options that have already been proven, like bio-gas or community-based solar and renewable micro-hydro projects. These are the ones that have actually worked on the ground, if only they are supported.”

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