Abstract
Indigenous peoples (IPs) and local mountain communities across the world are among those sectors of the society that are more exposed and vulnerable than others to climate change adverse effects. This is mainly due to the structural inequality that hinders their access to basic services such as healthcare, clean water, sanitation, but also to food security, education, participation and justice – all of which has been further exacerbated by the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Furthermore, many IPs and local mountain communities have lost their livelihoods due to the pandemic. Paradoxically, Indigenous Peoples and local mountain communities are among those who have maintained and promoted a holistic and balanced management of land, natural resources and the environment, and they tend to have a spiritual (if not, harmonious) relationship with the(ir) land and nature.
The Preamble of the Paris Agreement contains a reference to Indigenous rights, while article 7 recalls the importance of “[the] knowledge of indigenous peoples” as basis and guidance for adaptation action. The recent IPCC Special Report on Climate Change & Land has recognized the importance and the potential of Indigenous and local mountain communities’ (traditional) knowledge for adaptation prospects as well as to combat the loss of biodiversity, food insecurity and land degradation (IPPC 2020). In Latin America, the Ecuadorian Climate Change Strategy 2012-2015 recalls the identification, recovery and systematization of ancestral technologies and practices for implementing mitigation and adaptation activities (MAE 2012), while the Peruvian Framework Law on Climate Change (Ley Marco de Cambio Climático, Law No. 30754 of 2 April 2018) recalls the role of Indigenous knowledge systems for adaptation and mitigation purposes. Indeed, as demonstrated by Stevens et al (2014), traditional land tenure systems of Indigenous peoples may constitute a mitigation action per se. Furthermore, in various parts of the world, Indigenous Peoples have advanced innovative strategies of climate change adaptation, as empirically evidenced in the case of Africa (Hansungule and Oluborode-Jegede 2014; Kihila 2018) or Latin America (FAO 2019).
In the frame of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1, 3, 5, 6, 10, 13, 15 and 16, this paper situates this discussion in the Andean region, which is characterized by a rich cultural diversity and biodiversity hotspots. At the same time, the Andean region has received comparatively less attention than other areas (e.g., the Amazonian forest) with regard to climate change adverse effects and climate resilience, despite being a highly sensitive socio-ecological system.
Hence, this paper aims to explore the following research question: what are the main drivers to enhance the climate resilience of Andean Indigenous peoples and local mountain communities (e.g., Kichwa, Aymara, but also campesinos/peasant family farmers) and the sustainable, inclusive, just and equitable use of natural resources in their territories in the post-covid-19 era?
This exploratory research paper applies both (legal) human rights research and (social sciences’) qualitative methodologies, and uses both secondary data (literature, NGOs reports, etc.) and primary data provided by semi-structured interviews to key informants (specifically, an Indigenous female leader and a sustainable tourism expert from the Government of Ecuador).