Peru: Indigenous organisations criticize the national climate change agenda

Written on 06 May 2014. Posted in Peru

Unity Pact of Indigenous Organisations of Peru, an organisation that articulates national indigenous organisations, criticized the omission of key issues in the national agenda on climate change developed by the Peruvian government.

According to Unity Pact, the thematic scheme of the national climate change agenda, based on five areas: Oceans; Forests; Glaciers, Mountains and Water Security; Renewable Energy and Sustainable Cities, omitted fundamental factors in the region. For the organisations, the proposed approach ignores critical factors that increase the vulnerability of indigenous peoples to climate change, such as the use of cyanide in mining, pollution of natural water supplies and activities causing desertification of soils, among others. All of them, causing major socio- environmental conflicts. Antolín Huáscar, coordinator of the Unity Pact, said that the absence of agricultural and food sovereignty issues in the national agenda should be amended.“That is what we will argue in our next meeting called Indigenous Organizations and Climate Change: Peru heading towards COP20 ". For its part, Gladis Vila Pihue, spokeswoman of Unity Pact, said that the Peruvian State must agree upon an agenda with the civil society and the indigenous peoples in particular. “Peasant families provide 70% of the food production for Peruvian households and indigenous peoples are already suffering the negative effects of climate change,” Vila said.

Tags: Climate