Indigenous people key to coping with climate change

Indigenous people may hold the key to coping with climate change, a United Nations University (UNU) conference in Darwin has heard.

Ah Zakri, director of the UNU's Japan-based Institute of Advanced Studies, today said indigenous people left the smallest ecological footprints on earth.

"Most indigenous peoples practise sustainable carbon neutral lives or even carbon negative life ways which has sustained them over thousands of years," he said.

"There are at least 370 million indigenous people throughout the world living relatively neutral or even carbon negative lifestyles.

"While not a large number when compared to the world population of six billion, it does have a substantial impact in lowering emissions."

UNU rector Konrad Osterwalder said indigenous people had not been recognised for their efforts, despite demonstrating a remarkable ability to adapt to changing weather conditions.

"They have not benefited, in any significant manner, from climate change-related funding, whether for adaptation and mitigation, nor from emissions trading schemes," he said.

"The mitigation measures for climate change are very much market-driven and the non-market measures have not been given much attention.

"Indigenous peoples regard themselves as the mercury in the world's climate change barometer."

Professor Wendy Brady, from Charles Darwin University's School of Australian Indigenous Knowledge Systems, also addressed the International Public Forum on Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples: The Tropical Australian Experience.

She said developed countries should heed centuries of traditional knowledge and on-the-ground adaptation to worsening climate conditions.

"The cultural knowledge bank of indigenous peoples in relation to climate change has adapted to the ebb and flow of climate change over centuries," Prof Brady said.

"This understanding can help communities adapt to worsening drought conditions and desertification, as well as serious biodiversity loss."