Climate Change Predicted to Uproot Millions

According to a top U.N. official, climate change could uproot almost six million people annually and the effects of global warming might displace 200-250 million people by mid-century. Steps to adapt to and reduce climate change, while important, will not prevent a rise in weather-related disasters and conflict over scarce resources. The world's most underprivileged populations are often the first to feel the impact of climate change, but they are unable to fully prepare for these impending crises. The U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees claimed that aid agencies will need to increase their relief supplies 10- or 20-fold in order to respond to future catastrophes.

University of Washington anthropologist Holly Barker provides insight into this dilemma in her CounterPunch op-ed, "The Inequities of Climate Change and the Small Island Experience."

AAA Urges Brazil to Halt Construction of Dams

AAA's Committee for Human Rights, International Rivers, Survival International, and a number of other organizations have signed a letter urging the Brazilian government to abandon its plans to build hydroelectric dams in the Xingu River Valley and to engage in a discussion with local communities about environmental sustainability and infrastructure planning. The letter was the result of a 5-day gathering of over 1,000 Brazilian Amazon Indians and their allies who were protesting development on the Xingu River and its tributaries. Damming of the river will lead to flooding that will displace thousands, many of whom are indigenous peoples, and will also dry up more than 100 kilometers of the river that a number of indigenous groups depend on for survival. A number of smaller dams are also slated for construction, but the government has made no attempts to determine the potential impact these dams will have upon indigenous groups living in the area. All people have the right to realize their capacity for culture, and it is necessary for governments to consult with communities before undertaking development that threatens their way of life.

Links:
"The Xingu Forever Alive Letter [.doc]" (preliminary copy - not all signatories added yet)
Amazon Indians lead battle against power giant's plan to flood rainforest (The Independent)
Indians protest Brazil hydro dam project (AP)

Satellite Imaging and Mapping Helps Human Rights

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—-with funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the Oak Foundation, and the Open Society Institute—-is expanding the application of geospatial technologies to human rights issues. AAAS is using satellite imagery, geographic information systems, global positioning systems, and other geographic mapping technology and software to track human rights abuses. Analysis of maps can provide information on conflict, indigenous rights, environmental and social justice issues, and other human rights violations. AAAS and Amnesty International used satellite imagery in 2007 to monitor threatened villages in Darfur and to provide evidence of atrocities being committed, such as the destruction of villages and burning of towns. These technologies offer strong evidence of abuses, and may influence policy makers, courts, and governments to take action.

The World Bank is also making use of global positioning systems to promote sustainable development. They distributed handheld GPS devices to Mbendjele Pygmies in the Republic of Congo so that they can map sacred trees, hunting grounds, and plants that they use for to survive. Anthropologist Jerome Lewis adapted the devices so they are more accessible by the Mbendjele Pygmies. The GPS maps guide loggers away from marked territory in order to preserve Pygmy territory. Whether or not this will actually prevent a larger ecological impact and lead to sustainable development remains to be seen.

AAAS – Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights Project

AAAS Press Release on Satellite-Based Human Rights Work

Ping Magazine Article on Mapping for Human Rights

Indigenous Group use GPS to Protect Congolese Forests

Deforestation And The Amazon Rainforest

The rising price of soy on the world market and new agrogenetic technologies are the newest contributors to deforestation in the Amazon basin of Brazil. Infrastructure, including massive engineering projects such as dams, water highways, biodeisel plants, roads and ports, threaten over eighteen different indigenous peoples in the vicinity. Indigenous peoples, rural workers, and others, have publicly protested this onslaught into their areas. In recognition that deforestation in the southeastern portion of the Amazon basin was the highest its been since 1988, large international conservation organizations, including CI, TNC, and WWF, worked with soy corporations two years ago to reach a "moratorium" on deforestating new lands for soy cultivation.

At least two points of action are possible:

1. The "soy moratorium" resulted in soy farmers purchasing already deforested areas from landholders in the area, causing a secondary wave of deforestation in which those not within the moratorium push the frontiers of deforestation forward.

2. The two-year "soy moratorium" is about to expire.

The CfHR could become a contributor to international conversations on both of these topics. This offers the opportunity to partner with and advocate with international environmental NGOs on the rights of indigenous peoples; this can be done with a great deal of diplomacy if we take a chair at the table. There is also opportunity here for working with local Brazilian organizations and possibly contributing to social impact assessments. CfHR might also be able to work with the Public Attorney's office in Belem. Among other things, they are involved in cases involving the human rights of indigenous peoples. And, finally, we should contact ABA (the Brazilian anthropology association) and ISA (Instituto Socioambiental) in Brazil to consider possible synergies.