No two individual people are affected by the climate crisis in the same manner.
Despite our quick transition to modern, technology-aided practices, humanity has also been forced to tolerate its effects: a rapidly warming planet. This has pushed what has already been a vast disparity for vulnerable groups to the brink of chaos, disproportionately impacting those who have done the least to damage the environment.
Unique challenges
Coupled with climate change, the soaring demands for the world’s remaining resources have affected hundreds of Indigenous communities in the country. Former Ifugao Representative Teddy Baguilat, who currently serves as president of the Global Consortium for Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas, cites extreme weather events such as typhoons and droughts as an example.
He talks about how, “dahil sira na ‘yung kanilang coastal areas where they get their livelihood,” Badjao communities, have migrated from Zamboanga to urban areas in Luzon and Visayas
(Because the coastal areas where they get their livelihood are already destroyed.)
In an interview with The LaSallian, he showed a map by the Philippine Association for Inter-Cultural Development that superimposed a map of key local watersheds and biodiversity hotspots with a map of local ancestral domains. “It’s almost one and the same,” he infers.
Living climate models
Indigenous communities indeed play a crucial role in preserving the planet’s remaining biodiversity and critical ecosystems, making them living models of sustainable climate practices. As highlighted by Baguilat, the correlation between indigenous territories and areas rich in biodiversity is strikingly high.
The deep-seated knowledge and practices of Indigenous groups, rooted in the understanding that their lives are intrinsically tied to the health of their environment, allow them to maintain a balance between their development needs and ecological preservation. For instance, indigenous practices include harvesting only what is necessary and protecting critical breeding seasons.
Consider the Tagbanua tribe in Palawan. In 1998, they were recognized as the ancestral owners of Coron Island, giving them the right to manage over 22,000 hectares of its natural resources. To this day, they remain committed to preserving the island’s marine ecosystems. “Meron talagang areas doon na considered as marine protected or marine sanctuaries…dahil that’s part of their governance,” Baguilat expounds.
(There are areas there that are considered as marine sanctuaries because that is part of their governance.)
Widespread hypocrisy
Despite their best efforts, Indigenous peoples are often overlooked or undermined in global climate policies and negotiations. At international forums like the Conference of the Parties (COP), Baguilat says that their voices remain marginalized. Often, it is the government officials who serve as delegates while the groups most affected by climate change—such as the farmers, the youth, and Indigenous peoples—are relegated to mere observers.
Baguilat also points out the irony of holding last year’s iteration of the climate summit in Dubai despite the UAE being among the top oil producers in the world. The issue of human rights has also amplified concerns about the environment. According to the Human Rights Watch, Dubai’s recent fleet of renewable energy projects was built on the backs of migrant workers subjected to poor working conditions. These problems were also present in COP27 in 2022, which took place in Egypt under the repressive regime of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The situation is depressingly similar in the Philippines. Data from the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Global Witness revealed that over 40 percent of murdered environmental defenders in 2021 were members of Indigenous groups. In the Philippines alone, which the NGO dubbed “the worst place in Asia for land and environmental defenders,” 114 out of 270 environmental defenders killed from 2012 to 2021 were Indigenous peoples.
Moreover, Baguilat mentions the continuous proliferation of red-tagging of Indigenous peoples in the country to a point where even an entire Indigenous tribe could be labeled. He believes the root cause of the red-tagging is the increased awareness among Indigenous peoples of their own rights. “So now they’re pushing back,” Baguilat explains his thoughts, “which is also the reason why [there is a lot of] red-tagging.”
In the context of development projects, the concerns of Indigenous peoples are seldom consulted on the matter. Although Baguilat has been invited to participate in these projects, his views as an Indigenous person did not hold much weight. “I’m there because I’m a former politician [and] an environmental activist, not really as an Indigenous person,” he shares.
Empowered voices of reason
Due to these systemic problems, Baguilat remains cautious about his outlook for the future of the people he represents. He admits, “Parang minsan nagiging hopeless ka, kasi kilos ka nang kilos, pero patuloy pa rin itong
mga nangyayari.”
(Sometimes you get hopeless because you act and act, yet these things keep happening.)
The practical way forward, Baguilat argues, lies in an improved implementation of existing laws and continued Indigenous-led spreading of awareness. An advantage local Indigenous communities have over those in other countries is the presence of laws that recognize them and their rights. The framework provided in the 1987 Constitution gave birth to the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997, providing Indigenous communities the right to self-governance and their ancestral domains.
Filipinos have also stepped forward to represent indigenous peoples in the global arena, such as Baguilat himself, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, and former Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact Secretary-General Joan Carling, who are all part of Indigenous groups from the Cordillera region.
Their knowledge and practices, unsullied by the threats of oppression, are untapped alternatives for comprehensive and sustainable environmental solutions that global leaders have struggled to put together. Their empowered voices are worthy of being heard, with volumes surmounting all the noise generated by the continued violence targeted toward them. The fight for climate justice has also become a fight for the rights of Indigenous peoples, and preserving their customs may just be the key to an endless climate crisis.
This article was published in The LaSallian‘s June 2024 issue. To read more, visit bit.ly/TLSJune2024.
