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UNDP
Video: YouTube
The Baka people in Eastern Cameroon are using
video cameras provided by UNDP and the Global Environment Fund to
document how climate change is damaging the forests where they live.
It’s just one way the UNDP is helping indigenous people, whose
representatives are meeting at UN headquarters in New York May 18 to
May 29 to discuss how to further implement a groundbreaking 2007 accord
on indigenous peoples’ rights.
The
Baka, who live in the forests of Central Africa, formed an organization
called Okani (“rise up”) to help train other communities in filming and
storytelling techniques to talk about their lives. Their first
film shows how they are coping with the impacts of climate change, and the swift transformations of their habitat.
“Trees
are bearing less fruit; the soil has lost its moisture,” a Baka
hunter-gatherer says in the film. “Baka women love to fish. It’s part
of our traditions. But the stream is drying, and fish are dying: the
Earth has changed.”
Okani is one of several global initiatives in which indigenous communities are using cameras to voice their concerns. The
project is funded by the Global Environmental Facility - Small Grants Programme (GEF-SGP)
with support from the UNDP Global Human Rights Strengthening Programme.
“Participatory
videos, filmed by local and indigenous peoples, provide a voice to tell
the world about their needs”, said UNDP biodiversity expert Terence
Hay-Edie. “The process helps build bridges between communities and
policy-makers, and enables the poor and vulnerable to assert greater
control over their own development, human rights and the decisions
affecting their lives.”
Indigenous people are also using videos to submit project proposals,
to get grants – and to get results.
“The idea is to train indigenous peoples, who will then teach other
members of the community how to film their initiatives,” Hay-Edie said.
“Once the project is finished, the group will describe – in their own
words – the successes and lessons learned”.
The
Small Grants Programme has invested more than US$ 300 million in
initiatives dealing mostly with biodiversity conservation, climate
change mitigation and prevention of land degradation. About 15% of the
funds controlled by indigenous peoples’ organizations and
community-managed areas in more than 100 countries.
Using the Internet to Spread the Word
The Internet is essential for spreading the word. Films
are uploaded to several websites, such as UNDP-YouTube, GEF-SGP
and Conversations with the Earth,
and shown at important indigenous conferences.
The participatory video made by the Baka People for example, was
first screened during the Global Indigenous Summit on
Climate Change in Alaska on April 24.
A Global Discussion at the UN
Some 2,000 representatives
of indigenous communities from around the world are meeting at the Eighth
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues,
where representatives of various governments, civic organizations and
UN agencies – including the UNDP – will discuss how to further
implement the September 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples. The need to scale up corporate social responsibility practices
is another topic on the agenda, since industry has a disproportionally
negative impact on indigenous communities.
The
world’s approximately 370 million indigenous peoples comprise nearly 5%
of the world’s population, but make up 15% of the world’s poor and one
third of the 900 million extremely poor people living in rural areas.
Their access to adequate services, like health and education, is well
below national averages.
Indigenous peoples are key
partners in a special type of development: one that respects their
social and economic systems and that works for the indigenous peoples
without violating their cultures and traditions. The UNDP is partnering
with governments and indigenous peoples’ organizations around the world
to help put into the Indigenous Peoples Rights declaration into
practice, often through participatory policymaking processes.
Resources
UNDP and Indigenous Peoples: http://www.undp.org/partners/cso/indigenous.shtml
Eighth Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/members_nominations07.html
“Poverty in Focus: Indigenising Development”: http://www.ipc-undp.org/pub/IPCPovertyInFocus17.pdf
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