El Phoenix Sun

Patricia Cochran, Chair, Inuit Circumpolar Council

Even though Native Peoples have been among the first to feel the effects of climate change, they had little say in lead-up to the recent UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen, say leaders like Patricia Cochran, Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council.

Cochran’s charge is contained in a recent article by reporter Terri Hansen in Indian Country Today.

Still, some leaders focused on what they saw as positive developments for Native Peoples coming out of COP15, reports Hansen. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, told Hansen:

“We managed to bring in the recognition of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, an important instrument to ensure the rights and the knowledge of indigenous peoples is respected in all climate mitigation and adaptation processes.”

(Download The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.)

From "Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change

Last April, Native Peoples from around the world met in Anchorage, Alaska, to hold a pre-Copenhagen summit on climate change.

The meeting summit produced a report documenting a Native agenda for dealing with climate change. (Download the report.)

Parabolic trough system in the desert

As the popularity of solar and other clean renewable energy sources grows, environmental groups are playing a major role in shaping how the nation makes the transition to the new energy economy. One of the most visible examples of this renewed role for environmentalists is found in the the roll-out of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) on public lands primarily in the Southwest.

That’s not to say that all environmental groups agree on all points. Todd Woody, who blogs for the NYT’s Green Inc., recently covered one contentious issue in the Mojave Desert. Over at High Country News, Judith Lewis wrote a fascinating article in May about a schism between environmentalists over “Big Solar” in the Mojave.

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