Indigenous Peoples' Climate Change Portal

By Eleonor Baldo-Soriano

Tebtebba conducted a global Trainors' Training (TOT) for the Training Course on Climate Change, REDD+, and Indigenous Peoples from January 8 to 10, 2010 at the Ridgewood Residence, Baguio City, Philippines. The TOT was attended by project partners from Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Representatives from some indigenous organizations in the Philippines were also invited to participate.

The Global Research - Seminar Workshop on Indigenous Peoples Rights, Forests and REDD was conducted on October 4-6, 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand. This was participated in by partner researchers as well as the country coordinators. Following this, there shall be Local Research Seminar-Workshop to be conducted in the three (3) demonstration areas in Indonesia, Kenya and Nicaragua targeting IP local researchers. These workshops shall be venues to help build and enhance their research skills to be able to document indigenous peoples’ experiences; to come up with research outputs that reflect their own worldviews; and to help substantiate indigenous peoples' proposals and positions on REDD and climate change.

Download the Activity Report of the Global Research - Seminar Workshop on Indigenous Peoples Rights, Forests and REDD.

Tebtebba is now in its fifth month on the implementation of the project “Ensuring the Effective Participation of Indigenous Peoples in Global and National REDD Processes” funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (NORAD). For a more effective implementation in on the national level within the eight (8) countries, Tebtebba has firmed up partnerships with country partner organizations based in the project countries, namely Nicaragua, Peru, Kenya, Cameroon, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Nepal. The terms-of-reference (TOR) between Tebtebba and the project partners per country were also finalized based on the agreed implementation plans for the project period which were prepared by each partner organization.

Download the Progress Report for June - November 2009.

The last remaining tropical forests in the developing countries are those which indigenous peoples have controlled or owned. These forests have been protected and conserved mainly because forest dwelling and forest-dependent indigenous peoples have fought against deforesters and policies and programmes of governments to displace them from their territories. The defense and sustenance of their strong and deeply rooted historic cultural, socioeconomic and spiritual relationships with their lands and territories persists up to the present, even amidst the various efforts of the modern society to denigrate these. Tebtebba firmly believes that these efforts of indigenous peoples to protect and conserve their forests and to sustainably manage these proves that they are the ones who have contributed significantly in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, even before REDD has come into the picture.3 If indigenous peoples' customary institutions and practices for managing forests and other resources are reinforced, their contributions reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation will be further enhanced.