Indigenous Goldman Environmental Prize winner brings inspiration to IFIP event On April 15th IFIP convened a gathering at the Christensen Fund in downtown San Francisco for donors to meet the 2013 Goldman Environmental Prize recipient for islands and island nations, Aleta Baun. The Goldman Prize is the world’s largest award for grassroots environmental activism. Mama Aleta, an indigenous Mollo from West Timor, was awarded the Prize for stopping the destruction of sacred forestland on Mutis Mountain.

How did she do it? Weaving.

In response to destructive marble mining on their sacred mountain, Aleta led resistance from local communities. Because women are traditionally responsible for foraging food, natural dyes and medicines form the mountain forests, they were motivated to protest. 150 indigenous women spent a year sitting on the marble rocks at the mining site, quietly weaving their traditional cloth. As a result of the occupation, the mining company abandoned their operations in all four sites within the Molo territories in 2010.

The success did not come without sacrifice. Mama Aleta and her colleagues have been arrested and jailed. And there have been personal sacrifices. “When I started I didn’t have anything but my energy,” Mama Aleta explained. “So I walked through from house to house until I found enough people who agreed with me so that we could start organizing. Of course I had to do this at night when people were home. So I would return to my house when my husband and children were already sleeping. Locked out, I would crawl in through the window!”

In her presentation Mama Aleta made it clear that stopping the mines has not meant the end of her organizing work. The communities are trying hard to establish food and cultural sovereignty. This is difficult since most international solidarity left along with the mines. Ken Wilson, Executive Director of the Christensen Fund and long time IFIP board member, remarked that her continued commitment to support sustainable and culturally-grounded economic development for the communities is a demonstration of her genuine leadership. “Clearly you are not yet finished,” he said. Mama Aleta told us “we are determined only to sell the things we can ourselves create, and not sell the things we cannot create.”

Corrina Gould, Chochenyo-Karkin Ohlone, shared a blessing at the beginning, and remarked on the parallel lives they have followed as indigenous women struggling for respect for their homelands. Remarks by Lani Alo, Interim Deputy Director of the Goldman Environmental Prize, Lafcadio Cortesi, Asia Director at RAN, and Alice Srinivasian from Global Greengrants, contributed to the discussion of strategies for strengthening the capacity of Indigenous communities.

When IFIP learned that the Goldman Prize winner from Asia was an indigenous woman they knew it would be important to organize a meeting with her. Evelyn Arce, Executive Director of IFIP, explained that these types of exchanges are critical to the mission of the organization “Within a few short weeks we confirmed 30 participants, she said. “IFIP members understand the importance of supporting indigenous communities and the link to environmental struggles.”

For more information about Mama Aleta, and to see a short video, you can go to

http://www.goldmanprize.org/recipient/aleta-baun

• IFIP European Regional Meeting – Copenhagen June 1^st and 3^rd, see invitation here.

• IFIP Fall Regional Meeting – New York this Fall, More information coming soon.

By Galina Angarova

Back in January I was invited to present at IFIP’s regional meeting dedicated to the theme of “Food Sovereignty and Climate Change from Indigenous and Donor perspectives”.  The topic seemed interesting but very challenging at the same time since the area of my expertise is not exactly related to food; although outside of my work functions I am quite interested and active in food justice and food movements. However, I found it difficult to find a common theme with my fellow panelists who were going to talk about their case studies on agro-ecology and seed banks in Asia and Latin America.

The regions where I work – Siberia, Russian Far East and the Russian Arctic – are the areas where people live in very harsh climate conditions.  Many of the communities live in very remote places disconnected from civilization and they do not necessarily grow their own food. Unlike agricultural communities in Asia and Latin America, native people in the North obtain their food from nature by foraging, collecting roots and berries, catching fish, and harvesting animals.

As I was thinking it dawned upon me that although these communities are very different, unfortunately, some issues and threats that indigenous communities are experiencing these days are very similar. They are facing the same threats, be it impacts of climate change or land grabs, pollution and encroaching industrialization.

Another important realization that came as a result of my thought process is that when you work with indigenous people you have to embrace all aspects of indigenous life and not dissect it into different “programmatic priorities”.  As a native person myself,  I understand and relate to this idea, but having lived and been trained in the Western world, I sometimes forget that issues of human rights is inseparable from food sovereignty  the same way as climate change is inseparable from education and etc. Everything you engage in the native world is a spiritual activity and engaging with your environment, people, animals, and plants is a wholesome and non-compartmentalized process of living and relating to the outside world.

A couple of years ago I was lucky to have been invited to a dinner with an Eskimo family in Nome. That evening not only I tried my first walrus, whale and caribou, I learned a lot about lives and history of Eskimo people. During the Cold War Eskimo families got separated by the geopolitical borders and it took 50 years for them to finally reunite – already somewhat different from one another with new generations who have already adopted cultures of their respective countries. Yet despite differences they speak the same language, hunt for walrus, share same dancing patterns, and practice spiritual beliefs. It was fascinating to me to observe the interaction as they spoke their native languages and taught each other the moves of their native dances.

I learned a very important lesson that evening which is that food for these native communities is not just calories but a whole system of beliefs, relating to each other and to nature. Since a really big chunk of their time is spent obtaining food from nature, their lives constantly revolve around the process of relating to food. They say “if you take away our food, you take away our soul”. If you take away walrus from Eskimo people, there will be no Eskimo people. Walrus for Eskimos is not just a separate component of the environment; it is a significant spiritual being and a way of life for these people. This is how the issue of food sovereignty becomes the human rights issue, because the extinction of walrus can lead to the extinction of the entire ethnos.

The coastal communities in the Arctic depend 70-80% on sea provisioning for their subsistence and do not have monetary resources to purchase food. In addition, they have not taken very well to western food. With the introduction and increase of western foods from the Soviet society into the diets of indigenous people, cardiovascular diseases have increased dramatically.

Unfortunately, there are a number of threats to food sources that native people are experiencing these days. First and foremost, it is climate change. The extent of the changing sea ice is affecting the Arctic people like no other factor. Issues of note include climate change and receding ice, increased storms which are destroying the coastline, lack of old multi-year ice, thawing of snow in the middle of the winter season, overall change of seasons with much longer falls and earlier spring, changing animal behavior and migratory routes (including animal species appearing for the first time in the Arctic region: moose, lynx, sea otters, hummingbirds, and etc.).

In the past few years we have been working with our partners in Chukotka to monitor walrus population in the Bering Strait region. The walrus population there is the largest in the world, reaching roughly to 120,000 individual species, and it is the main subsistence resource for local Chukchi, Siberian Yupics, and other native groups. Over several years we have noticed considerable changes in the animal behavior. With receding sea ice they move their haul outs further to the north or on shore. In 2007 with the first significant recession of sea ice the animals hauled out on shore and they ate the entire pasture of food available to them and stampeded each other, which resulted in high numbers of disease and mortality. Approximately 7000 to 10000 animals died that year.

The second most disturbing development is increased shipping in the Arctic, which is, unfortunately, is a growing reality. The Northern Sea Route was opened for navigation in 2012 for the third consecutive year.  Russia is building up its ice-breaking fleet to support the increased sea traffic through that area, which is used to get oil, coal, etc. to Asian markets.  This increase in shipping activity is being done although mapping and charting of its waters have barely started, and very little is understood about the Russian side, which is particularly shallow. Also, there have been no noise investigation studies regarding sound pollution and the potential impacts on marine life.

Finally, The Arctic is facing a “gold rush” by the world’s largest corporations to exploit “the opportunity” created by the receding sea ice and increased cost of hydro-carbons. The offshore oil and gas drilling pose an existential threat to Arctic communities; it’s diversity of indigenous peoples and wealth of wildlife. And because the rush to exploit is relatively at the beginning, there’s a need for urgent action that can create leverage to stop and mitigate activities that should never have been started in the first place. The Arctic is the most hostile and extreme environment to drill for oil. Its seas are often battered by fierce storms and in winter months they are plunged into total darkness. In case of an oil spill it will be impossible to clean up or mitigate any damage.

So what can we do as a community of environmental leaders, indigenous rights activities, and international funders?

First and foremost, we need to support research and better understand and respond to climate change impacts on vitally important species such as walrus, whale, and salmon. We need to use community knowledge and leadership to transform this knowledge into action. We need to understand linkages between climate change and land, water and people.  We have to use local knowledge and experience to identify adaptation and management strategies.

Second, we need to build capacity of Arctic indigenous communities and help them to assert their rights. We need to strengthen community leadership and technical know-how, create and disseminate education resources and help communities to advance their human and indigenous rights. Most communities live in very remote villages and they are disconnected and not very well informed about issues of climate change, shipping, and oil and gas development. They have the right to know and then have a choice to voice their opinions.

On a broader scale, we need to promote effective sharing of information, knowledge and research. We need to combine local, traditional, and Western science perspectives. We need to influence local, regional, national, and international fora. The role of indigenous people, their organizations and communities in sustainable development of the Arctic is becoming more and more important. We keep hearing that the problem of funding for effective and full participation of indigenous people in decision-making on high levels, even within the Arctic Council, remains to be an issue. We need to make sure that indigenous people are appropriately represented and their voices are heard at different international meetings such as UN, the Arctic Council, and the International Maritime Organization (IMO)

We need to strengthen legal protection of the Arctic seas, coastal resources and indigenous communities. One of the venues that can be employed to make a difference is IMO, which is a UN agency responsible for safety of shipping and prevention of marine pollution. The IMO is currently considering a mandatory Polar Code to improve maritime safety and environmental protection. We need to secure stringent shipping regulations via Polar Code. Right now we are working to include stringent environmental and human health provision, expanding on a geographical focus of the code southward in the Arctic region, and ensuring participation by indigenous leadership in developing and monitoring implementation on the code.

In addition, we need to secure protection of the Bering Strait’s terrestrial areas in order to protect one region, culture and an ecosystem that was separated by political boundaries. Both US and Russia having been exploring the idea of creating an international park and formally recognize shared Beringia Heritage area and just last year it was announced that US and Russia will formalize the agreement in the nearest future.

And finally, we need to tell the story, increase media attention and expose the industry driven gold rush for the Arctic. Most powerful stories come from people themselves. Such as the one that I heard from the Eskimo family a couple of years ago, who told me that they keep losing their husbands and sons to harsh hunting conditions on the sea that these conditions have worsened over the last decade due to climate change. They told me that they might face malnutrition if conditions continue to get worse and they will be forced to change their diets which will inevitably lead to loss of their culture and, as mentioned earlier, of their identity as indigenous people.

What are the conclusions?

It is important to understand that the Arctic is not only the stock pot of natural resources, it is a territory of human lives, cultures and people who managed to create and sustain their day-to-day lives, own system of management, values which aligns well with the harsh climate conditions. Food is a very important, if not the most important part of their value system, and if you take away their food, you will take away their self-identification as indigenous people.

Environmental and social safety, monitoring and risk management should become key conditions of development of the circumpolar region within the framework of the international management regime in the Arctic and nation-states actions plans. Because of the particularly small population, the threat of the loss of life and culture within a decade is an existing reality. The fate of these people depends in immediate intervention by environmental and indigenous rights organizations and donors supporting the cause.

And finally, the Arctic does not tolerate temporary solutions, people and approach.  Long term investment into human dimension, development of human potential, education, and health along with economic investments would be the key for long term, innovative and sustainable development of the Arctic.

Over 30 people gathered at The Christensen Fund in San Francisco to attend IFIP’s 1^st regional meeting of 2013. The meeting brought together indigenous leaders, philanthropists, and others, and IFIP members to engage in meaningful conversations about indigenous peoples in the context of food sovereignty and climate change. (Contact ifip@internationalfunders.org for a complete list of attendees). It also served as important starting point for creating awareness and connections between indigenous people and philanthropists. The regional meeting focused on providing examples of how indigenous peoples are preserving cultural and biological diversity, mitigating climate change, and pioneering local food systems.

The goals of the meeting were:

• Introduce IFIP’s pioneering guide to international Indigenous philanthropy, Grantmaker’s Guide: Strengthening International Indigenous Philanthropy.
• Understand why and how to engage with indigenous communities.
• Understand the important role of indigenous communities in solving the problems of food sovereignty and climate change.
• Create greater awareness of IFIP and its role in advancing indigenous philanthropy.
• Create opportunities for members to interact with each other.

The meeting was facilitated by Evelyn Arce Executive Director of International Funders for Indigenous Peoples and Theresa Fay Bustillos of Ideal Philanthropy.

It began with a heartfelt prayer and invocation by Val Lopez a leader from the Amah Mustan Tribal Band.

People began the conversations by identifying their favorite or most impactful grant, which placed focused on the impact of conversations between funders and indigenous peoples.

The first session was an introduction to the grantmakers guide published by IFIP, and a conversation about some of the challenges with funding for indigenous peoples. Although there are many challenges in the space, the conversation focused on the complexity of issues facing indigenous peoples, how indigenous people can speak the language of the funders, and about what they need and how funders can potentially engage with these issues. For more information on this, members can download the grantmakers guide, and non-members can purchase it, through an online order to ifip@internationalfunders.org. While there is a lack of funding for indigenous people worldwide, there are plenty of projects to fund, which can have a major impact.

The Second session was a very informative one, featuring four panelists, Alejandro Executive Director of ANDES, Galina Angarova Program Officer for Pacific Fund for the Environment, Jeff Campbell, Director of Grantmaking of the Christensen Fund and Jennifer Astone Executive Director of the Swift Foundation.

These presentations were all amazing, detailing the deep connection between indigenous peoples and the natural environment, be it climate change or food sovereignty, and the sanctity of indigenous cultural practices. Representatives from the indigenous communities such as Val, Alejandro and Galina reminded us that in indigenous cultures there is no distinction between the sacred and the profane, they are part of the same life system. That reminded us that indigenous cultures are based on maintaining important relationships with our selves, each other and the earth itself. Destruction of these systems through land grabbing, industrialization and other forms are therefore an assault on the very fabric of indigenous existence.

Food sovereignty and climate change cannot be separated from issues facing indigenous peoples, but provide a lens with which philanthropists and other funders can understand them and engage with them. In light of this holistic worldview, indigenous approaches to food sovereignty and climate change are not only important, but they provide innovative, viable and are essential.

Alejandro’s presentation entitled Food Defines a Civilization provided an amazing example of how indigenous peoples in the Andes Mountain’s in Peru’s Parque Del Papa (Potato Park) are promoting local food sovereignty, while conserving cultural and biological diversity, and mitigating environmental forces of Pachamama. By cultivating various varieties of potatoes in small communal plots they mitigate diseases effecting large plantations, and ensure that diverse varieties are resistant to environmental changes such as climate change. The Parque Del Papa also maintains the other element of Pachamama, a spiritual relationship between people and food by honoring the food spirits with prayers and festivals. Alejandro cited that a grant he received provided the resources to conduct an anti-GMO protest. More recently the park has begun an innovative project-which teaches women to read and write as well as how to make medicines and cosmetics from local products.

Galina added to the complexity with her discussion on indigenous peoples in Siberia and the Arctic. Unlike other indigenous peoples Siberian peoples are not necessarily agricultural, they practice hunting of sea of animals as well as gathering wild produce. Despite this difference, they face similar threats such as industrialization and land grabbing. In the case of Arctic people, the oil industry is destroying the walrus ecosystems, and therefore assaulting their way of life. Like the indigenous peoples of Peru, peoples in Siberia are spiritually connected with their food, and they are an inseparable part of their cosmology. Galina quoted an Eskimo, who said, “If you take away our food, you take away our soul.” Galina pointed out the deep connection between indigenous peoples and food, which makes food sovereignty, and food security, an issue of human rights. Galina outlines a series of solutions for Arctic peoples that provide a road map for a better life for indigenous peoples in the region.

• Support research to better understand the relationship between food systems, climate change and the land.
• Use community knowledge and experience to identify adaptation and mitigation measures.
• Build the capacity of indigenous people to assert their rights
• Strengthen communities by giving them technical knowledge, and educational resources.
• Combine traditional knowledge and Western science.
• Strengthen legal protection of indigenous land and resources.
• Tell the story and increase media attention to the issues facing indigenous peoples.

Jeff Campbell, of the Christensen Fund did a presentation that outlined the necessity of keeping the future delicious through indigenous approaches to food sovereignty. Based on the understanding that Biocultural Sovereignty and Agro-System Diversity equals Resilience. Providing an engaging talk that gave the examples of how bio-cultural diversity and food sovereignty from the project focusing on the cultivation of Enset by the Dawro peoples in Ethiopia. Enset is an indigenous plant related to the banana that provides resources for building living structures, food and cultural preservation. Enset cultivation also restores long-term agro-ecosystem processes, such as water, carbon cycles and nutrients, and mitigates negative effects of climate change. Jeff also talked about the Christensen Fund’s strategy for grantmaking which included connecting farmers and researchers, such as universities, and creating consortiums for knowledge sharing and promoting cultural festivals. Christensen fund is also in the process of doing an assessment of how indigenous groups are mitigating climate change with bio-cultural diversity.

The last speaker was Jennifer Astone from the Swift Foundation who spoke briefly about how philanthropists and indigenous leaders can support each other by telling stories about how people are promoting biological and cultural diversity, and protecting and maintaining indigenous knowledge, and agro-ecological solutions. She also talked about the importance of advocacy and legal rights for indigenous peoples.

After several questions regarding the role of conservation in funding indigenous peoples projects, and important comments from Val Lopez of the Amah Mutsan, about the necessity of the human element in indigenous life, the regional meeting ended successfully. It met its goals, and was an amazing first regional meeting.

- Blog by Cameron Campbell

On   January 22,  IFIP  kicks off  its  Regional Meeting series  at the Christensen Fund in a mid-day session on Food  Sovereignty, Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change. Whether your interest is  the  environment,   sustainability,  economic  justice,   human rights or climate change, IFIP’s first regional meeting will intro- duce a  new  paradigm  in  philanthropy  to  provide the  highest impact in all these program areas. Donors are welcome to attend either session or both  sessions.

JANUARY 22: Food Sovereignty, Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change

11am – 3pm,  IFIP’s First Regional Meeting, The Christensen Fund, San  Francisco

Jeff Campbell of The Christensen Fund

Jennifer Astone of the Swift Foundation

Galina Angarova of Pacific Environment

Alejandro Argumedo of the Association ANDES

11 am —1 pm    Specialized  training  on   the  Grantmaker’s   Guide: Strengthening International Indigenous Philanthropy, which offers principles  of  funding from visionaries.  This  session  will  explore case studies of successful collaboration between Indigenous com- munities and global philanthropy,  proven tools for  grantmakers, and best practices from the most experienced in the field.

1 pm —3 pm  Working lunch on  Food  Sovereignty,  Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change. Foundations globally are re-engaging in agricultural development as the world’s food systems once again appear  increasingly precarious, and there is  a  rapid increase in grantmaking around healthier food systems. This session explores ways to work with  Indigenous Peoples to support the  vibrancy of  their traditional  agricultural systems and to discuss  climate change strategies.

JANUARY24: MitigatingClimate Change: Learning  from Indigenous Tradition

1:30 – 2:30pm, International Human Rights

Funders Group Conference

San  Francisco Marriott Union Square Hotel

Galina Angarova of Pacific Environment

Alejandro Argumedo of the Association

ANDES Jaune Evans of the Tamalpais Trust

Evelyn  Arce  of IFIP

1:30—2:30pm On  January 24, IFIP  is  leading a session on  Miti- gating Climate Change: Learning from Indigenous Tradition at the International Human Rights Funders  Group conference.  Human rights funders will learn from both a donor and Indigenous Peo- ples who   support  Indigenous adaptation  and mitigation  strat- egies to climate change. They  will  share  strategies  to achieve high  impact through collaboration with  those  communities with ancient solutions to the most critical threat to the Earth today.

To register, please email: support@internationalfunders.org

See more information at: www.internationalfunders.org

For questions, please call our office at: 415-580-7982

“I’ve been on the Board of IFIP from the very beginning. My final act on the Board before terming-off was to approve the decision to relocate IFIP to San Francisco.As someone who lives and works here, it’s wonderful to welcome IFIP to this progressive community.There are so many people and organizations here focused on issues that align with IFIP’s mission and goals this move will undoubtedly accelerate IFIP’s impact.Its  focus on transforming philanthropy through partnerships with Indigenous Peoples fits nicely with a community that prizes collaboration, innovation and social justice.IFIP is a highly creative organization which reminds us about the important role of Indigenous People in solving the world’s most pressing issues.  Welcome IFIP, I look forward to introducing you to everyone I know here.”

Theresa Fay-Bustillos is Principal and Co-Founder of Ideal Philanthropy LLC and oversees the West Coast office. Theresa is a recognized civil rights and human rights lawyer, and philanthropic and business executive.She was selected as one of the Most Influential Women in San Francisco by the San Francisco Business Times in 2007 and 2008.

  “I welcome IFIP’s relocation to San Francisco, a city that ever yearns for a world with different values, and whose mind ever stretches back and forward in time and across the Pacific Ocean.Being on Akwesasne Reservation in upstate New York all those years was a wonderful way to ground us in the lived Indigenous. I don’t think we will lose that, given the strong Indigenous community we have here in the Bay, and the respect for Indigenous thinking here, and yet I also believe we can add to that Indigenous connection the progressive and internationalist donor and NGO community of the West Coast.” 

 Ken Wilson, Ph.D. has served as Executive Director of The Christensen Fund since August 2002. Born in Malawi with a life spread rather across the world, Dr. Wilson studied zoology at the University of Oxford and anthropology at University College London where his doctorate focused on indigenous knowledge, health and human ecology in the agro-pastoral arid savannahs and woodlands of Southern Zimbabwe.