Indigenous peoples from five countries told the UN Rio+20 summit on Thursday that the green economy is a “crime against humanity” that dollarises Mother Nature and strips communities of their rights.
Native peoples gathered in Rio for a counter-summit issued a declaration blasting the goals pursued by world leaders attending the official UN Rio+20 summit on sustainable development.
“The Green Economy is a crime against humanity and the Earth,” the text said.
“In order to achieve sustainable development, states must recognize the traditional systems of resource management of the Indigenous Peoples that have existed for the millennia.”
“We cannot allow false solutions to destroy the Earth’s balance, assassinate the seasons, unleash severe weather havoc, privatize life and threaten the very survival of humanity,” the so-called Kari-Oca 2 declaration said.
“We see the goals of Rio+20, the ‘Green Economy’ and its premise that the world can only ‘save’ nature by commodifying its life-giving and life-sustaining capacities as a continuation of the colonialism that Indigenous peoples and our Mother Earth have faced and resisted for 520 years,” the declaration said.
“Our rights to self determination, to our own governance and own self-determined development, our inherent rights to our lands, territories and resources are increasingly and alarmingly under attack by the collaboration of governments and transnational corporations.”
The indigenous peoples have been attending a parallel “People’s Summit,” an initiative of 200 ecological groups and social movements from around the world.
They comprise 400 representatives of 20 Brazilian indigenous groups, including Guaranis, Tikunas, Tukanos, Gavioes, Kaiapos, Xavantes and Bororos, as well as 1,200 natives from Canada, the United States, Colombia and Nicaragua.
Source: ntn24.com
