BaCCC/Video Summaries/Archana Soreng (India): Voices of Change: Our Voice Matters

Video Summary

2. Archana Soreng (India): Voices of Change: Our Voice Matters | Climate Change (4:44)

Archana Soreng belongs to the Kharia tribe in Odisha, India.
In 2019, a science-based report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the first time recognised the vital role Indigenous communities like Archana’s play in preserving ecosystems and forests.
We need to stop tokenising the participation of young people, Indigenous people and local communities, and make them part, because of their expertise in the policymaking and implementation processes.
Indigenous communities make up only 5% of the world’s population, but they protect more than 20% of our planet’s land and 80% of its biodiversity.
Their food systems are severely affected by the loss of wildlife and plants, drought and other erratic weather patterns.
Indigenous people contribute the least to the climate crisis yet are being affected the most.
For generations, Indigenous communities have also fought to protect their ancestral lands from destructive practices such as deforestation, land grabbing, oil and gas extraction and monocropping.
We must recognise the rights of Indigenous people over the land, forest and territories and safeguard them so that they can contribute towards climate action.