Including Indigenous Voices is Vital When Discussing the Climate Crisis

Indigenous communities are facing the brunt of the impact of climate change despite not contributing to global emissions. Yet, delegates from Indigenous communities invited to COP26 found world leaders gone by the time they spoke.

As COP26 draws to a close and negotiations are underway, world leaders have been accused of greenwashing and not listening to those who will most be affected by climate change.

Panganga Pungowiyi, based in Alaska, from the Indigenous environmental network said: “I think governments and people who have self-proclaimed power need to listen to people who are indigenous who bring warnings about continuing to tinker with the environment.

“I personally don’t feel that they intend to change or want to see the changes that drastically need to happen in order to avoid climate disaster.”

Alaska is home to several Indigenous communities and is seeing temperatures warm twice as fast as the rest of the United States with average annual temperatures increasing by three degrees over the last sixty years. Alaska is also home to some of the world’s largest glaciers and has the fastest loss of glaciers.

Pungowiyi stated: “I come from a belief that earth is going to be ok but it’s that humans aren’t. This is going to be a human disaster.”

“We are the first to put our hands on animals and to see what changes are happening within their bodies. We are the first to see what is happening to the Arctic ice. We are the first to see the changes that are happening in the environment because we have observed and have lived in partnership and in relationship with the environment.

“It is natural because indigenous people were from the land we are of the land. We have always been environmentalists we have always been climate scientists.”