NUSA DUA, Indonesia:

Indigenous people from around the globe said yesterday they were being excluded from key international climate change talks, when it was their homes, livelihoods and culture at risk from global warming.

Surrounded by demonstrators wearing paper gags reading UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change), Marcial Arias, one of Panama’s Kuna people, made a passionate plea for the world to listen.
“There are no name places for indigenous people, there are no seats for indigenous people,” said Arias, referring to a UN conference in Bali, Indonesia on future plans for fighting climate change.
“They want us to beg on our knees to be given the floor, but we have the right to participate,” he said.
About 20 indigenous people from countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Bangladesh, Samoa, Mexico, the Philippines and Indonesia - some in traditional dress—joined the protest outside the conference centre.
“We have our culture to protect and our language to protect,” said Alfred Ilenre, from the Edo group in Nigeria.
“The convention on climate change should not isolate indigenous people... If we are not allowing them to have their say, it is a crime against humanity,” said Ilenre.
In a statement, the International Forum of Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change said that some projects aimed at curbing global warming—such as renewable energy projects or biofuel crops - were encroaching on their land.
“We demand that the conference of parties recognise and take action to curb the adverse impacts of climate change on indigenous people,” they said. 
Meanwhile, China, one of the world’s biggest polluters, won plaudits yesterday at the UN climate change summit for leading the call for rich nations to make deep greenhouse gas emissions cuts.
“If you are looking at this week, here in the negotiations ... China in particular has been more positive than previously anticipated,” said Matthias Duwe, of the Climate Action Network Europe.
Delegates said that during the meeting in Indonesia’s Bali, China had been a vocal supporter for 25 to 40% greenhouse gas emissions cuts for rich nations, and was showing general flexibility in the talks.
“China knows that if there are strong and tough targets for industrialised countries for 2020 ... it will also mean that developing countries will also show enhanced action,” said Stefan Singer from green group WWF.
Artur Runge-Metzger, a senior European Commission delegate, said that China had been showing signs of moving to clean up their climate credentials over the past year.
“They have clearly said that climate change is something they care very much about,” he told reporters.
He said their position boded well for a “good outcome” at the talks in Bali, which aim to lay out a roadmap of negotiations for a new plan to tackle climate change when the current phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
The European Union is pushing for mandatory emissions cuts of up to 30% for rich nations by 2020, but the US and Canada say that booming economies and major polluters such as India and China should also commit to binding targets. - AFP

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