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Latest Headlines
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Dec 7, 2008 1:16:00 PM MST
Canadian native leader warns climate conference about changes in the North (Climate-Cda-North)
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POZNAN, Poland _ Chief Bill Erasmus of the Dene nation in northern Canada has a stark warning about the climate crisis.
Erasmus says once abundant herds of caribou are dwindling, rivers are running lower and the ice in the north is too thin to hunt on.
Erasmus has raised his concerns in recent days on the sidelines of a UN climate conference under way in Poznan, Poland.
He is among those seeking to ensure that North America´s indigenous peoples are not left out in the cold when it comes to global warming negotiations.
The 54-year-old elected leader of 30,000 native Americans in Canada, and representatives of other indigenous peoples have met in Poland with the UN´s top climate official, Yvo de Boer.
They are also lobbying national delegations to recognize them as an "expert group" that can participate in the talks like other non-government organizations.
"We bring our traditional knowledge to the table that other people don´t have," he said.
Nearly 11,000 national and environmental delegates from 190 countries are negotiating a treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which regulates emissions of carbon dioxide that scientists blame for global warming. The protocol expires in 2012.
The alliance of native peoples include groups from the forests of Borneo to the depths of the Amazon.
De Boer said he advised the alliance to draw up a proposal and muster support among the national delegations to have their group approved by the countries involved in the talks.
"To give indigenous people and local communities a voice in these discussions is very important," said Kim Carstensen, the climate change director for WWF International.
Erasmus, who lives in Yellowknife, brings first-hand experience on the effects of climate change.
The caribou and reindeer herds are declining across North America and northern Europe, he said.
"We can´t hunt because the ice is not frozen yet," Erasmus told The Associated Press. "Our hunters are falling through the ice, and lives are being lost."
This winter, the normally dry area has been covered by thick, wet snow, further hampering hunting, he said.
Petroleum extraction from the Canadian tar sands is draining the underground water table and reducing the flow of the rivers northward, and the effects are felt hundreds of kilometres away, he added.
Erasmus said he is concerned that warmer winters will mean less luxurious fur on the muskrat and beaver that his people sell.
Nearly 40 years ago, he said, tribal elders noticed changes in the annual migrations of animals. The weather, which they could forecast three weeks in advance from animal behaviour and the appearance of the sunsets, is now unpredictable.
Scientists have warned that conditions in the Arctic are a barometer of climate change. The region is warming faster than more temperate zones, and the seas are ice-free for longer periods.
Meanwhile, the melting of the permafrost threatens to release stored methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, UN scientists have said.
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